The squad of Robert Black, Harley Moore, Liam Donald and Adam Bakker came through the second semi-final on the Maritsa River.

Australia led at the half way point but Great Britain followed very closely in second with Serbia back more than a boat length in third.

The Australians and their British rivals moved clean away from the rest of the field, but it was the former that crossed the line first in a time of 5 min 44.28sec, an under-23 world record.

Great Britain and Serbia secured second and third place to also qualify for the final in 5:45.680 and 5:48.480 respectively. 

In semi-final two, the Dutch crew and Austria matched each other through the first half of the race and in the process left the rest of the field behind.

Austria are the reigning under-23 world champions in this class and they managed to break free of the Netherlands and come home in first in 5:52.060.

The Dutch held on to second in 5:55.240 with Switzerland coming through in third in 5:57.350.

The record was also shattered in the women's four as The Netherlands set a new under-23 best of 6:26.620 from semi-final one.

Elsbeth Beeres, Karolien Florijn, Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester combined to beat their Romanian and British opposition, who took second and third respectively with times of 6:29.770 and 6:34.400. 

Semi-final two opened with Germany in the lead but they were immediately challenged by New Zealand.

However, the Italian squad came charging through to take first place in 6:31.550 with the Germans following behind in second in 6:33.180.

However, the real fight proved to be for third.

New Zealand had a slight margin with Denmark gaining on them as the line edged closer.

Both boats had to wait for the results as it was too close to call, but the Danes edged their opposition by 0.07 with their overall time of 6:34.280.

Action is due to continue tomorrow with the first day of finals.