A five medal flourish closed out the GB Rowing Team performance at the World Championships today, following Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley's earlier and safe qualification of the women's double scull for Rio as well as Sunday's final in France.
Golds went to both the lightweight men's pair of Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour and the coxed pair of Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell, Mat Tarrant and cox Henry Fieldman.
Scrimgeour said: "I am delighted with that. I have had three really good pairs partners this season but this takes the biscuit:".
Tarrant said: "It was awesome and I can't ask for anything more. We had a solid race and we would not have been happy with anything but gold".
Their golds were backed by silvers from the women's four of Rebecca Chin, Karen Bennett, Lucinda Gooderham and Holly Norton as well as the lightweight women's quadruple scull of Brianna Stubbs, Ruth Waczak, Emily Craig and Ellie Piggott plus Imogen Walsh in the lightweight women's single.
GB's young lightweight men's quad were fourth in their final and Jamie Kirkwood came home sixth in the lightweight men's single scull final.
Thornley and Grainger had earlier produced the race of their season so far to produce a close third-placed finish behind both the current and 2013 World Champions to move into Sunday's final. They had to reach today's semi-final via the repechage in an event which is intensely competitive here.
Grainger said: "We knew both semis would be a fight to the death to get into the top three. We talked with our coach Paul Thompson last night and we knew we would need to bring out our best race. It was a really tough race and it was good that we could take advantage of such an exciting race. It brought the best out of both of us and it was great that we could raise our game in that kind of Championships race".
Thornley added: "I'm pleased with how we kept our heads. That was our best row at the regatta so far. We trusted in the boat and each other.".
Elsewhere there was disappointment for the open men's double scull of John Collins and Jonny Walton, the lightweight men's four of Jono Clegg, Mark Aldred, Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley and open single sculler Alan Campbell. who finished outside the top three in their semis and now race Sunday's B finals in which they must finish in the top five to qualify the boats for Rio.
Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing performance director said: "It was good to see the women's double qualify for the final and join the eight Olympic class boats already there.
"I am really pleased with or medals from today's International Class crews. These boats are giving experience to young rowers on the Olympic pathway and reaching the podium is fantastic for them and inspirational for the rest of the team".
Today's medals came on top of the four para-rowing medals - a gold and three silvers - won yesterday. Tanner added: "Yesterday evening's para-results were simply exceptional. Four medals from four boat classes and all of them were strong results. That is really encouraging as we go towards the 2016 Paralympic Games with all four of our boats now qualified".
Tomorrow will see the first of two days of Olympic class finals. GB's race-card will be led off by Helen Glover and Heather Stanning and James Foad and Matt Langridge in the open men's and women' s pairs. It will also include the lightweight men's and women's double sculls, the men's four and the men's quadruple scull.
Racing starts at 11.00 BST. Both Saturday and Sunday's races will be covered live on BBC TV. Saturday's programme will be on BBC One from 13.00 -14.30 BST whilst BBC Two will pick up the coverage on Sunday from 12.00 - 14.15 BST.
RACE REPORTS
In today's late morning session the crowd were lifted by five GB Rowing Team medal performances in the International Classes.
The all-powerful USA women's sweep squad dominated the final of the women's four. Behind them, though, the GB quartet of emerging talents Rebecca Chin, Karen Bennett, Lucinda Gooderham and Holly Norton were holding second through the first half with Germany and China battling for bronze.
Coached by Jane Hall the newly-selected four showed a great turn of power and speed to hold off the chasing crews and take silver in 6:31.52 to the USA's winning time of 6:25.22 with China in bronze.
Chin said: "We really wanted to go out and push the Americans as hard as we could and we did. I'm really happy to get a medal at my first senior World Championships and I'm excited to see what happens next".
Norton added: "I did everything that I could, that's what I thought at the end. I am very happy to be racing for this crew and for GB".
Bennett said: "It was amazing and I'm really pleased. Second in the world is great to say. It's the best race we have ever done".
"We knew the Americans would be hard to beat. Our aim was to go out hard and just really trust in our strong performance. Our coach Jane Hall has been brilliant for us", said Gooderham.
They were followed in action by the coxed pair of Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell, Mat Tarrant and cox Henry Fieldman. Reilly O'Donnell and Tarrant were world men's eight medallists this time last year. Fieldman coxed the pair to World 2014 silver. All three were disappointed not to be selected into the Olympic class boats earlier in the season but bonded and focussed as a crew late in the summer.
Today they were ahead at 500m, reached in 1:41.8, with Belarus and Germany at close quarters either side of them. With a great second quarter in the bag, they led at halfway by a length and looked in control. Germany had moved up to second.
With power and confidence the Durham-Shepperton-Barnes combination were piling on the speed and continued to pull away. Behind them Germany, in the final 250m, emerged a clear second with Serbia in third. At the line the margin was significant. First to GB in 6:51.31, Second to Germany in 6:57.36 and third to Serbia in 6:59.52.
Reilly O'Donnell said: "I guess that was an affirmation of all the work over the summer. The target was to work and be consistent".
Just like their coxed pair equivalents, the light men's pair of Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour decided to go out hard and take an early lead. Cassells won European gold with Peter Chambers earlier this year. Scrimgeour has world cup medal pedigree. As the race charged through the halfway and then the 1500m mark, the GB boat was still leading with France moving up through Italy to take second place.
Stroke by stroke the French battled to get the overlap on the GB boat. The home crowd urged them on but Cassells and Scrimgeour were unabashed and ecstatic as they crossed the line to win in 6:29.40. Germany were third. France took silver in 6:32.02.
For the second time in the morning the Union flag topped the flag frame and the national anthem played out across the sunny, green water.
"I am delighted with that. I have had three really good pairs partners this season but this takes the biscuit. I had to wait for Joel to join us after the U23s and so the first training camp was hard but it all came together in Varese. It's been a short honeymoon period and it's been great to be in the pair with Joel".
Castles said: "We wanted to go out hard and control the race and see off any challenges that came at us. I think that is one of the best races I have ever done".
Jamie Kirkwood made a strong start to his lightweight men's single scull final, holding second through the first timing point. In a top-flight field he began to find the going tough in the second half of the race, dropping off the leading pack to come home a close sixth in 6:58.62.
European Champion Imogen Walsh was next up in the lightweight women's single scull in which she held third in the opening phases behind the World U23 champion Zoe McBride and the American, Kathleen Bertko, who beat her in the semi-finals.
Small measures separated the Inverness sculler from Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil through the third 500m until Walsh made her move. Not only did she scythe through the Brazilian but piled the pressure on the American who was holding second to McBride. Laying down long and strong strokes, Walsh dug deep and pulled as though her life depended on it to move up and take silver in 7:33.99. Gold to NZ in 7:32.45, bronze to the USA.
Afterwards there was a degree if disappointment at silver for the woman whose winter's training was disrupted by illness. "Truth be told, I wanted to win it. There were points in the winter when I wondered if I'd even be here. I think I did pretty well but it wasn't the perfect row".
Jamie Copus, Steve Parsonage and Sam Mottram have been getting their first taste of a senior World Championships here in France. Their stroke Zak Lee Green was part of the team in 2014. Together they have made a good debut by making today's final.
In the opening phase of the final on the now sunny waters of Aiguebelette, the quartet were left a bit for pace but in the second half they moved up from sixth to fourth place and held onto that in a time of 5:54.51. In front of them, the Germans lost out on gold when France put in a sizzling sprint to overtake them on the line by the narrowest of margins. Denmark took bronze.
Copus, from Wallington, Parsonage from Norwich, Mottram from Stoke Mandeville and Cardiff's Lee Green will be disappointed not to win a medal but will have grown hugely from the experience.
Brianna Stubbs, Ruth Walczak, Emily Craig and Ellie Piggott. were amongst the fastest qualifiers for today's final having won their heat in commanding style. The measure of their progress in the past twelve months came when they came home to take silver compared to their distant sixth place in 2014.
The race began with Germany and Australia showing well. The British quartet were in fourth but moving up well. By halfway they had third place ahead of the Dutch, the reigning World Champions. Germany continued to lead but Australia began to erode their lead and GB had the overlap on Australia.
In that third 500m the Dutch made a big move to get back in medal contention. The GB boat held them off and came up on the Australians. It was going to be a tough, tough final 500m. Australia began to fight back. GB continued to hold them off. Germany were still out front and the Dutch were flying up on the far side.
Poole's Stubbs, Rochdale's Walczak, Craig from East Sussex and Bedford's Piggott kept their heads and their focus despite the Dutch pressure to come through and get the sliver in 6:27.07. Germany's gold came in 6:25.10 and the Dutch took bronze in 6:28.27.
"I think it was really good that we didn't panic", said Stubbs. "There was a real sense of shared commitment and I knew that we were going as fast as we could at that point. The quality of this event has moved on. There are more crews and more tight racing".
Walczak said: "That is massive progress [since last year] and massive team-work. There has been such a good spirit in our crew this year.
"I am still processing the race. It was such a fast race. I just called and the girls responded every time. There was such trust and intent in the boat".
Craig said: "We went out to get the gold. Fair play to the Germans. There was nothing else we could have done. It was a good race to finish the season on".
Piggott said: "We went for gold and by doing that got the silver. We wanted to finish what we didn't do last year".
Earlier there were semi-finals of the Olympic class boats who will contest their finals on Sunday.
The day started with a popular outcome when team stalwart and multi-Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley contested the semis of the open women's double scull and booked a place in the finals as well as qualifying the boat for GB for Rio.
Grainger and Thornley knew they had a tough semi-final on their hands. Coached by Paul Thompson the Glasgow-Wrexham duo were drawn in a race with the 2013 World Champions Lithuania and Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane, half of the 2014 Kiwi World Champion double.. China's Zhu Weiwei and Wang Yuwei were fourth in the Italian leg of the world cup this year.
Grainger and Thornley got a good start alongside the French who showed first in lane one. At 500m gone they were neck and neck with the Lithuanians with New Zealand in fourth but coming up quickly. No more than two-thirds of a length separated the first five boats at halfway. New Zealand and Lithuania were neck and neck in the lead with the GB boat fighting to hold third place.
As the tension rose for British supporters and the race passed the 1500m mark, the Chinese threatened the British hold on that third qualifying slot. A strong push saw New Zealand out in front and winning in 6:52.35 with Lithuania in second and the GB crew kept with the pace to finish within a third of a length of the Lithuanians and secure third in 6:54.11.
"I just feel relief", said Thornley. "I'm pleased with how we kept our heads. That was our best row at the regatta so far. We trusted in the boat and each other.". The duo have now qualified the boat for Rio for GB.
Grainger said: "We knew both semis would be a fight to the death to get into the top three. We talked with our coach Paul Thompson last night and we knew we would need to bring out our best race. It was a really tough race and it was good that we could take advantage of such an exciting race. It brought the best out of both of us and it was great that we could raise our game in that kind of Championships race".
At 500m gone the GB Rowing Team men's double of John Collins and Jonny Walton were back in fifth but in a field where only a second and a half separated the top five boats in a race led by France's Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias. To the delight of the French crowd their men qualified eventually in third place with Germany winning and Lithuania in second.
For the Twickenham-Leicester combination the pace in the second half proved too hot. They were in touch with 500m to go but could not find another gear to get back onto the French stern and challenge them. With Cuba coming through to take fourth, the British duo were fifth in a time of 6:17.05 and will now race a B final on Sunday.
Walton said: "We felt that we had a good race but we just didn't have it to stay with the field in the end. We are very, very disappointed but will go out and race hard in the B Final". If the double finish fifth or above in the B final they will qualify the boat for GB for Rio.
The GB Rowing Team lightweight men's four of Jono Clegg, Peter Chambers, Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley were in the race of their lives at halfway in today's semi. Switzerland and France were neck and neck out front with the Italians and British battling for that third place.
Switzerland put on a significant turn of speed to move out to a length and more lead. Behind them the French overhauled the clearly tiring Italians with the British quartet out of the qualifying places despite a valiant final sprint. Fourth for them in 5:58.68 and into the B finals.
"We did what we set out to do but they were just faster today", said Aldred. "There is still a job to be done in the B Final and a big prize up for grabs so we just need to focus on that now". A top five finish in the B final will qualify the boat for GB for Rio.
Alan Campbell, London 2012 bronze medallist in the open men's single scull, was next in action for GB. He was drawn in a semi-final with the reigning World Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, the former Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway. and the European Champion Damir Martin of Croatia.
Campbell has been coming back into form in the second half of 2015 after a difficult 2014 season where his results failed to meet his own expectations. Today Drysdale and Tufte moved into an early lead with Campbell in fourth and in touch. Just before halfway, the New Zealander put in a massive push to take a big lead. Campbell could not stay with the pace in the second half and finished in fifth, winding down at the line to preserve energy for the B final. Victory to Drysdale, Martin in second and Tufte in third in a close finish.
"I'm very disappointed obviously. Something wasn't firing right today, I was having to work too hard and I couldn't hold it at the end. Even then I felt that I could come back with 250m to go but the race was all on the other side", said Campbell.