Botes and Oberholzer on form at World Rowing Champs

The lightweight men’s double sculls crew of Vaughn Botes and Nicholas Oberholzer kept their hopes alive for a place in the A final on Tuesday night, progressing to the semifinals at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota.

The duo finished second in their repechage in 6:26.13, edging out the Argentine pair of Alejandro Colomino and Carlo Lauro by three hundredths of a second (0.03) in a thrilling contest.

They joined medal favourite Kirsten McCann in Thursday’s semifinals, after McCann had finished second in her single sculls heat at the weekend to progress automatically for the penultimate round.

Meanwhile, on an otherwise disappointing third day of competition for the national team, the men’s four boat of John Smith, Lawrence Brittain, Jake Green and David Hunt ended fourth in their repechage in 5:59.66, missing out on a place in the semifinals by 1.13 seconds.

The men’s pair of Leo Victor Davis and teenager Sandro Torrente settled for fifth position in their repechage, also failing to progress.

Both the men’s four and pair crews were relegated to the C finals, to be contested on Saturday’s penultimate day of competition at the eight-day showpiece.

Paralympic rower Sandra Khumalo was fourth in her single sculls heat, and she was set to compete in the repechages on Thursday for a place in the A final.

On Monday night, Kyle Shoonbee had taken the runner-up spot in his single sculls repechage, earning a spot in the quarter-finals to be held on Wednesday evening.