ROWING With Scotland's Katherine Grainger at bow for the first time, Britain's quadruple sculls won their first heat at the world championships in Munich.

After the withdrawal of Kazakhstan, the field is reduced to 12 crews, and as a result semi-finals are no longer needed, so yesterday's victory gave Grainger and her crew access to Sunday's final, with the added bonus that by reaching the final they have assured themselves of a place in next year's Olympics.

The British quartet were pushed by a strengthened German combination, who recovered from a slow start to be just half a length behind at halfway. However, the British crew then stretched away.

China, the only nation to have beaten Grainger's crew this season, won the other heat to set up Sunday's expected showdown.

The British crew will be pleased, though, as their overall time was almost two seconds faster than China, who were chased by Ukraine, and also faster to each intermediate mark.