Chris Bartley and GB lightweight four through to semi-finals

Great Britain's lightweight coxless men's four, including Wales' Chris Bartley, have qualified for the semi-finals following an impressive win.

Bartley and crewmates Peter Chambers, Robert Williams and Richard Chambers won their heat on the opening day of competition at Eton Dorney.

The British crew produced a fightback to overhaul world champions Australia.

They clocked a time of five minutes 49.29 seconds, ahead of second placed Australia with Germany in third.

Great Britain are now through to the semi-finals on 31 July and Bartley said: "We had a pretty good row today.

"We just wanted to kind of focus on our own boat and fortunately we did a good enough job to come away with a win.

"We're pretty pleased with that for a starting point."

Wrexham-born Bartley is part of a team who have entered London 2012 as a real medal hope.

They finished their World Cup season on a high with a gold medal at the final event in Munich.