Jaimee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie led for most of the 500m distance, with direct qualification for the A final at stake, before the Polish crew came through to snatch the win.

Poland, third at the world championships last year, finished in 1min 34.092secs, while New Zealand clocked 1:34.892 for the eight-fastest time overall. They'll need a top-10 ranking to qualify a boat for next year's Olympics and Ryan believes they are on track.
"We were feeling really strong before racing and we executed our individual and team race plans as they were set," Ryan said. "We've got a good sense of confidence and we feel strong so I think we've got the mental edge and it's all going really well."  Belarus (1:31.548) and Hungary (1:33.568) were the other two crews to qualify directly for Sunday night's A final.

Earlier, Lisa Carrington had cruised through her K1 200m heat, recording the fastest time of the 49 entrants with a 40.330sec effort. The defending world and Olympic champion remains on track for an historic double, having qualified for the K1 500m final as well.  "I’m just looking for some good performances, so hopefully I can reach my potential - that’s all I can hope for," Carrington said.

Tomorrow's racing sees Zac Franich and Darryl Fitzgerald race their K2 1000m C final, followed by Carrington's K1 500m A final, her K1 200m semifinal and the K4 women's semifinal.