WILL FLETCHER and Kat Copeland were able to celebrate Olympic qualification in their respective lightweight double sculls as they qualified for the final of the World Rowing Championships.

While the duo are not guaranteed to be personally involved in Rio, and will still have to come through a selection process to secure a place on the team, today’s performances mean Britain will be able to enter a boat in their preferred disciplines at the Olympics.

Fletcher, who is from Chester-le-Street, teamed up with Olympic medallist Richard Chambers to win the second semi-final in the men’s lightweight double, and given that the pair were the fastest qualifiers, they will start Saturday's final as strong gold-medal contenders.

The duo only started rowing together at the start of the season, but they took control of this morning’s semi-final in the opening 500m, extended their lead to half a length in the middle section of the race, and eventually pulled a second and a half clear of Norwegian duo Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli.

Stokesley’s Copeland, who will hope to defend the Olympic title she won at London 2012 in Rio next summer, is partnering Charlotte Taylor in the women’s lightweight double, and the pair successfully qualified for Saturday’s final as they finished second in their semi.

They trailed crews from Germany and New Zealand in the first half of today’s race, and while Kiwi world champions Sophie Mackenzie and Julia Edward pulled clear to win by more than a second, the British pair successfully overhauled their German opponents to claim a comfortable second position.

The New Zealanders will be tough to beat in this weekend’s final, but Copeland and Taylor are rowing well enough to claim a medal and should be the strongest crew in the field in the closing stages of the race.

“We have been learning all season about ourselves, and I think we are rowing the best we have done all summer here,” said Copeland. “We have confidence in what we are doing. The good thing about our event is that the results keep switching and changing. I am really excited about the final.”

Ashington’s Jamie Kirkwood is competing in the non-Olympic class lightweight single on Lake Aiguebelette, and was the third North-Easterner to qualify for a world final today.

The Cambois Rowing Club member started superbly, and while he was briefly headed by New Zealander Adam Ling, he rallied brilliantly to triumph by the narrowest of margins in a blanket finish that saw just eight hundredths of a second split the top three rowers in the field.

On an excellent day for the GB squad, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning continued their dominance of the women’s pair with a semi-final win, while their male counterparts, James Foad and Matt Langridge, were also celebrating a victory as they qualified for the final.