2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup II - Preparing for the finals

The day also included the finals of the Para-Rowing events at the venue of the 2012 Paralympic Games regatta. The World Cup finals are set to race on Sunday, 23 June starting at 09:27 (GMT).

The men's quadruple sculls is shaping up to be a must-see event with the top crews from the London Olympics in contention for medals. Olympic Champions Germany proved to be the strongest coming through from the heats. But the finishing times from the repechage round indicate that Croatia, Estonia and Australia as well as home favourites Great Britain all have a medal chance.

The lightweight men's double sculls began as one of the best represented boat classes at this regatta and there has been tight racing in narrowing down to the final six. Norway's Ari Strandli and Krostoffer Brun have come through with the fastest qualifying times and they will face a field that features many sibling combinations. Paul and Bernhard Sieber of Austria are on form, as are the Muda twins from the Netherlands and Peter and Richard Chambers of Great Britain will definitely be in the mix.

In the women's single sculls, some new names showed their potential including Austria's Magdalena Lobnig. Lobnig comes from successful under-23 double sculling. The United States presented an Olympic Champion from the eight, Eleanor Logan, who will go into the final with the fastest qualifying time. The sole representative from last year's women's single Olympic final, Emma Twigg of New Zealand is likely to use her experience to go after the medals.

In the men's single sculls, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Marcel Hacker of Germany, two very well-known names, will meet in the final. Synek and Hacker raced each other earlier this month at the European Rowing Championships with Synek coming out the winner. Both of these scullers will be using all of their racing tactics to take top honours at this World Cup final.

New Zealand feature in the men's and women's pairs for the first time internationally this season and both crews posted the fastest qualifying times when they raced in the heats. But Rebecca Scown and Kayla Pratt will meet the strong combination of Helen Glover and Polly Swann of Great Britain for the first time in the final. For the men, Olympic Champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond outclassed the entire field in their heats and it will be unlikely that any other crew will be able to touch them in the final.

Today's finals in the Para-Rowing boat classes saw Great Britain's Tom Aggar back on top in the AS men's single sculls. Aggar, the 2008 Paralympic Champion who finished fourth at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, turned around his 2012 result at this regatta. Great Britain won a second para-rowing gold in the LTA mixed coxed four.

There was an upset in the AS women's single sculls when 2012 Paralympic Champion Alla Lysenko of Ukraine finished second to Russia's new sculling sensation, Natalia Bolshakova.  The TA mixed double sculls was easily won by Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu of France.

Stay tuned to www.worldrowing.com to follow the racing live thanks to our Live Race Tracker.

Live video streaming will be available for the A-finals on Sunday 23 June from 10:30 here.