LAURENCE WHITELEY enjoyed a superb start to the World Rowing Championship as his heat win secured him a place in the final of the PR2 single sculls.

The Northallerton-born Paralympian was in impressive form in Plovdiv, with his switch from a double to the single sculls not causing him any problems.

He set a new World Championships record of 8:43.71 as he finished almost ten seconds clear of his closest rival from Italy, but the mark only stood for around ten minutes before it was beaten by Dutch oarsman Corne de Koning. The pair look set for quite a tussle in the final, which is due to take place on Friday morning.

Middlesbrough’s Jo Wratten was also in action yesterday morning as part of the women’s four, but the crew will have to negotiate a repechage after missing out on an automatic place in the semi-finals.

The British crew finished fourth in their heat, behind the United States, China and New Zealand. They were level with the New Zealand line-up for the majority of the race, but eventually finished four seconds adrift of their opponents.