The duo had eased to gold at the European Championships earlier this month and continued their form by producing a time of 7min 8.800sec to comfortably claim victory in their heat and earn direct qualification to tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Germany’s Kerstin Hartmann and Kathrin Marchand crossed in 7:15.450 to secure the second spot, while New Zealand, South Africa and two American crews also advanced from the next two heats.

“That was a good, solid first race and we’re looking forward to tomorrow and stepping up,” said Glover, who is the current world, Olympic and European champion alongside Stanning.

With the men’s single sculls proving to be the biggest boat class of the regatta, the top rowers found themselves separated across six heats, with the first three finishers from each reaching the quarter-finals.

Having won his heat with ease, world champion Ondrej Synek proceeded to post the fastest time in the quarter-finals by crossing the line in 6:51.970.

Reigning Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale, who is making his season debut, will be expected to challenge the Czech rower and eased to a win in his quarter-final by finishing in 6:55.720.

France’s Thibaut Verhoeven and Britain’s Alan Campbell also eased into semi-finals in 6:56.970 and 6:53.430 respectively.

Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic, the reigning world and European champions, progressed to Sunday’s final in the men’s double sculls.

The duo triumphed in their heat in a time of 6:10.010, with Germany's Marcel Hacker and Stephan Krueger clinching the second automatic spot in the final by winning the last heat in 6:14.230.

Lithuania’s Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite lead home Australia’s Sally Kehoe and Geneieve in the first women’s double sculls heat to advance to Sunday’s final, with the crews finishing in 6:53.190 and 6:55.610 respectively.

They will be joined by Germany’s Julia Lier and Mareike Adams, after they finished the second heat in a winning time of 6:52.530.

The final automatic spot was claimed by Helene Lefebvre and Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino as the French duo ended as the runners-up in 6:53.120, while the remaining crews will look to secure places through the repechage.