The Swiss rower won his semi-final in Plovdiv, with Hungary’s Peter Galambos and China’s Man Sun also progressing.

Germany’s Jason Osborne won the second semi-final to progress to the medal race, followed by the United States’ Andrew Campbell and Canada’s Aaron Lattimer.

Semi-finals in the women’s lightweight single sculls were won by Britain’s under-23 world champion Imogen Grant and Belarus’ Alena Furman.

They were joined in the final by the United States’ Michelle Sechser, Canada’s Jill Moffatt, Laura Tarantola of France and Italy’s Clara Guerra.

The battle for the women’s pair title gained additional intrigue, as defending champions Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler of New Zealand placed second in their semi-final.

The duo ended behind Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens of Canada in their semi-final, with China’s Xinyu Lin and Rui Ju rounding off the qualifiers from the race.

Ireland’s Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty earned victory in the second semi-final race to advance.

They were followed by crews from Italy and Spain.

Australia’s efforts to defend their men’s and women’s four titles continued with the both their crews in semi-final action.

Their women’s squad qualified for the final as runners-up to the US, while European champions Russia were third.

Denmark won the second race, with Poland and China joining them in the medal race.

Australia triumphed in their men’s semi-final, with Denmark and Romania taking the remaining spots from the race.

Italy, Britain and Germany emerged from the second semi-final.

The first medals are due to be won when the event resumes tomorrow.