By PA Sport Staff

Great Britain's single scullers Alison Mowbray and Matthew Wells qualified in style for the next round of the Olympic regatta on the first day of repechage racing.

Mowbray produced a fine performance to win her repechage in 1:52.61 and Wells was second in his, clocking 1:40.50. Both now race in Thursday's semi-finals.

But it was not such a good day for the women's coxless pair of Dot Blackie and Cath Bishop and the double scull of Sarah Winckless and Frances Houghton.

Neither crew qualified for the Olympic final and both will now race in the small final - for places seventh to 10th - on Friday.

Mowbray lined up in the second repechage of the single sculls knowing that she had to finish in the first two to qualify for the semi-finals.

She started strongly, keeping in touch with Monica Tranel Michini, of the USA, over the first half of the course and never letting her get too far ahead.

Mowbray put in a big push after halfway to take the lead and then extended it, crossing the line in 7:51.33.

She was 3.07 seconds clear of Tranel Michini. Her time was the fifth fastest of the day.

"I wanted to go off hard and win this race," said a delighted Mowbray afterwards.

"It was the first two through but I wanted to win it to give me confidence for the semi-final."

Wells raced in the first repechage and the opposition included the experienced Andris Reinholds (Latvia).

At the 500m mark, Sergio Abel Fernandez (Argentina) was in the lead but, by halfway, Wells, the world U23 champion, had moved through to take the lead, just ahead of Reinholds.

The Latvian pushed through and by the 1500m mark was half a second up. By the finish, Reinholds was 1.79 seconds clear but Wells crossed in 7:08.19 to qualify comfortably for Thursday's semis.

The rest of the field were almost six seconds behind him. Wells' time was the fourth fastest of the day.

Wells said: "It was a good start, better than I expected. More what we planned in training and it paid off this time."

Blackie and Bishop, world silver medallists in 1998, have struggled to reproduce that form and speed since and today, as in Sunday's heat, they were never in the race.

They finished fourth and last in 7:36.53. Their repechage was won by the USA in 7:21.00.

Blackie and Bishop will now race in the small final - for final classification places seven to 10.

The new combination of Winckless and Houghton, racing together only for the second time, were left after the crews from Lithuania and the USA blasted out of the start. By 500m, the British double were fourth and last, nearly five seconds off the pace.

But the young crew didn't panic and recovered to put in the fastest final 500m of the entire field and move up to overtake the Swiss crew and finish third in 7:14.03.

Lithuania won in 7:08.18 with the USA the other crew to qualify for the Olympic final. Winckless and Houghton also race in Friday's small finals - for places seven to 10.