World Cup Rowing III: Ollie Cook and Rory Gibbs help Great Britain to a silver medal in the men's four in Holland

The quartet,

, put in a dominant performance to win their heat on Friday and progress automatically to the A final.

Windsor-based

said: "The heat was another test and another tick in the box to show that internally we could get some good speed, so that definitely was a confidence booster."

Rory Gibbs, from Marlow, added: "We were really pleased to have Saturday off to give ourselves another day of training and freshen up for the final.

"We had a really good run in the heat and did exactly what we wanted to do. It's always difficult having no competition racing side-by-side against you but we stuck to what we wanted to do. We were really pleased to come out first."

Sholto Carnegie commented: "The heat went really well. It was a day of turmoil, from the thunderstorm in the morning to the crosswinds in the afternoon. It was a day where we had to deal with whatever was being thrown at us and keep a calm head.

"We executed what we did in training and established our rhythm down the track. I was really pleased with the result."

Having rowed to the silver medal, the Leander Club member added: "I'm feeling good after that. We got a lot of stuff right this time, maybe not the full package but we're certainly building in the right direction. There's a lot of potential still in this crew and we're really excited to be moving forward."

The crew, which also includes Matt Rossiter, also won the Stewards' Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta last weekend after facing their GB teammates in the final.

Day one of World Cup III last Friday tested the GB Rowing Team's resilience under pressure as stormy conditions delayed racing by more than five hours. The day was contested using a time trial format with crews racing one by one against the clock.

There was disappointment for quadruple scullers Jack Beaumont and Pete Lambert from Maidenhead, plus Jonny Walton and Angus Groom. Their initial first place result was later revised down to third due to a timing error that occurred during the time trial process.

Beaumont said: “We feel like we made a step on technically from Poznan a few weeks ago. We had a few technical things we wanted to work on and we used Henley as an opportunity to practice in a race situation. I’m pleased we implemented it well."

The women’s eight won their repêchage by a length on Saturday to see them safely through to the A final. The crew, of Fiona Gammond, Zoë Lee, Jo Wratten, Hattie Taylor, Rowan McKellar, Rebecca Shorten, Sunningdale-based Karen Bennett, Holly Norton and Matilda Horn, kept the Romanian crew behind them and led from start to finish to take the win.

This World Cup regatta was the final test for the British team ahead of the World Championships in August, where qualification spots for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be up for grabs for the first time. Director of Performance Brendan Purcell said: “Our objectives from these World Cups were to benchmark ourselves against the competition and maximise our qualification opportunities at the World Championships. We now have a wealth of information as we head into our final training block of the season.

“The men’s four turned out a great performance which will keep them hungry over the next six weeks."

The GB Rowing Team will now head off on summer training camps before returning to compete at the World Championships from August 25th to September 1st in Linz, Austria.