MATTHEW Langridge, part of Great Britain’s men’s pair, progressed safely from his heat as the world championships started on Sunday.

The Northwich rower, in a boat with James Foad, responded to an early challenge from their Romanian rivals to win comfortably in 6.33.23 in France.

“That was a good start,” said the 32-year-old afterwards.

“It looked like Romania wanted to put in a good first kilometre, but they dropped off fairly quickly after that.”

Langridge and Foad, crowned as European champions earlier this year, pushed ahead before halfway.

They were unchallenged during a well-paced race’s final 500m.

Their reward is a place in the quarter finals, scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Langridge added: “We have four races here if we want to contest the final, so we know we need to keep stepping things up.”

Reigning world and Olympic champions New Zealand, with Hamish Bond and Eric Murray on board, were comfortable victors in their heat.

Serbia, third behind the British pair in the European Championships final and again at a world cup regatta in Lucerne last month, were similarly so.

Italy were the fastest qualifiers, timing 6.28.410, while South Africa completed a list of heat-winners from a 27-strong field.

“We’ve had a good couple of camps, and felt pretty good coming here,” said Foad, a member of Molesey Boat Club.

Result

Rowing World Championships

Lake Aiguebelette, FRA

Men’s pair

Heat three, Sunday: 1. Great Britain 6.33.23; 2. Romania 6.40.21; 3. Germany 6.45.11; 4. Hungary 6.55.88; 5. Croatia 7.07.03.