It was the turn of ANU’s double scullers to impress on the second day of racing at the National Rowing Championships in Perth today.

David Wright and Riley Owen made people sit up and take notice when they qualified directly into Friday’s final of the Open Men’s Double Sculls only 3.90 seconds behind the Beijing Olympic gold medal crew of David Crawshay and Scott Brennan.

The Olympic Champions and the ANU double comfortably held off the rest of the field as they finished first and second in their heat.

Another fine performance came in the Open Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls when Mack Wilcox and Dylan Conolan qualified fourth fastest for their Friday final.

The other ANU double in action today was Jacqui Williams and Natalie Graf in the Under 23 Women’s event. They progressed to Wednesday’s repechage.

After racing in temperatures up to 37 degrees today, all competitors are looking forward to some milder weather conditions on Wednesday.

By: Nick Hunter – Updated on: 7/03/2012