Coxless four into final

Britain's rowers have cruised through to Saturday's final of the men's coxless four at the Olympic regatta.

The quartet of Matthew Pinsent, Ed Coode, James Cracknell and Steve Williams, finished first in their semi-final with an outstanding display.

Pinsent and his team made a slow start, allowing Poland to sneak ahead, but after the 1000m mark the Britons moved a length ahead and never looked back.

The GB boat finished over two seconds ahead of New Zealand and Poland.

Cracknell was in upbeat mood after the team won in a time of five minutes and 50.22 seconds.

"We've got a lot of experience in our boat and it showed today," he said.

"We had more aggression and confidence - it was a much better reflection of our speed in training.

"We need to be quicker on Saturday but we can take a fair amount from that."