London 2012 Olympics: world best time for Great Britain men's four at Rowing World Cup in Lucerne Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Peter Reed and Alex Gregory moved up through the field to lead at halfway and turned on the boosters to take the verdict by considerable clearwater, smashing the previous World Best Time of 5:41.35, set by Germany at the 2002 World Championships. The time - a great boost ahead of the Olympics - sees them advance to Saturday's semi-final, and James said: "We set out to win our heat and we didn't want to hide away from hard work, even in a heat, if it gave us speed. Watkins said: "It was a really enjoyable race. We felt really in control and it's great to have strong opposition to race. Olympic champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter appeared to be pacing themselves when they finished second in their heat. There were also good wins for the women's pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the men's single and two lightweight single scullers and qualifying performances from the second women's pair and both men's pairs. However there was disappointment for the men's eight, who were third behind Canada and Poland, and the two open quads who will now race repechages. We've seen the high standard here that we expected and we have had a strong morning but not everything has gone our way. There is plenty to play for in the semis," said GB Rowing team performance director David Tanner.