By Paul Martin in Paris

PLYMOUTH pair Jacob Dawson and Chloe Brew kept their Olympic ambitions alive on a successful day for Britain’s rowers in Paris.

Dawson, 30, helped steer the men’s eight into Saturday’s final as he bids to upgrade the bronze he won as part of the same crew in Tokyo.

They will go in as favourites having claimed two world and three European titles in this cycle but Dawson is urging his teammates to keep their feet on the ground.

“It’s a really good start,” he said. “We knew we would have to execute a really strong performance to get through to the final.

“It was all about keeping to our processes, which I know is a boring thing to say – but simpler is better a lot of the time.

“The expectation for us is to be on the hunt and execute the best race we can. There is no more to it.”

The GB crew were in control of their heat from the outset and had the luxury of easing up towards the finish line as they came home five seconds clear of Australia.

Their winning time was just over seven seconds slower than the USA, who set the pace in a full throttle opening heat, but Dawson – who recovered from a life threatening pulmonary embolism following Covid complications two years ago – is not concerned.

“There is so much time between now and the final that you could have a flat out race and still be able to perform really well on finals day,” he said.

“It wouldn’t have changed anything for us if we had to race to the line, we were fully prepared to do that.

"It just so happened that we executed our first 1500m well enough that we were able to enjoy the last 500m a bit more.”

Dawson’s fellow Plymothian Brew, 28, insisted an early Olympic exit never crossed her mind after steering Britain’s women’s pair into the semi-finals.

Brew came through the women’s pair repechage alongside Rebecca Edwards in the third of three available qualification spots for Wednesday’s semi-finals.

“I was really confident we could do it, I didn’t even think of a scenario where we wouldn’t be here,” she said.

“That came through in our racing, we were really in the zone. We definitely improved on yesterday. Going out was never a possibility.”

Brew and Edwards are a new-look pair having been part of the women’s eight in Tokyo and she is enjoying this experience far more, with her father Paul – who swam for Team GB at Seoul 1988 – among those watching on.

“You can’t compare this to Tokyo, it’s very different circumstances,” she said.

“I’ve never experienced a crowd like that before. I heard my parents - my mum, dad and siblings are here and for some of them, it’s the first time they’ve seen me row.

“They are loving it and Paris has brought the sunshine, which is great.”

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