Coleraine rowers make semi-finals at Lucerne World Cup regatta

Great Britain single sculler Alan Campbell is showing a return to the form which won him an Olympic medal

Coleraine's Olympic medallists Alan Campbell and brothers Richard and Peter Chambers have made the semi-finals of the Lucerne World Cup rowing regatta.

Campbell won his men's single sculls heat, with only one place guaranteed to progress to the semi-finals.

Richard Chambers and Englishman Will Fletcher won their lightweight double sculls heat and quarter-final, holding off Denmark in a time of 6:16.230.

Peter Chambers and the GB lightweight four finished second in their heat.

Campbell, whose season was slow to get underway after an injury forced him to miss the European Championships in May, is gradually returning to the form that saw him clinch a bronze medal at London 2012.

In a heat that contained former Olympic champion Olaf Tufte from Norway and the winner of the European title, Croatian Damir Martin, the Great Britain sculler tucked in behind Tufte and with 500m remaining took over the lead and moved away to cross the line first.

By winning the heat, Campbell saved himself having to take part in the repechage and he should be fresh and eager to race the likes of Olympic gold medal winner Mahe Drysdale and world champion Ondrej Synek over the weekend.

Richard Chambers and Englishman Will Fletcher faced two races in the lightweight double sculls because of the size of the field, but progressed in impressive style.

However the cream of the field still look like the French pair of Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre, whose winning time in their quarter-final was seven seconds faster than the GB twosome.

Peter Chambers, along with Mark Aldred, Chris Bartley and Jamie Kirkwood, finished second in their heat behind world champions Denmark and went straight into Saturday's semi-finals.

This is the third different combination in three regattas for Great Britain as they look for the fastest quartet ahead of the world championships in France at the end of August.

Meanwhile Enniskillen's Leonora Kennedy and Monika Dukarska, rowing for Ireland, were sixth in their heat of the women's pair and then fifth in the repechage and will race in the 'C' final on Saturday.