British pair reach double sculls final

Team GB's Bill Lucas and Sam Townsend qualified for the final of the double sculls at Eton Dorney this afternoon.

At the midway point of the race, Lucas and Townsend were fourth in a six-team field.

However, they upped their strokes to around 36 per minute and as a result they advanced into third spot ahead of Norwegian duo Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch.

The Norway boat began to close the gap with 200m remaining, but Lucas and Townsend fought off their challenge to claim the last remaining berth in the final with a time of six minutes and 22 seconds.

Slovakia's Luka Spik and Iztok Cop won the race, while Lithuanian pair Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter finished second.

In the other semi-final, defending champions Australia were eliminated.