They were later overtaken by three pairs but finished only a second down on Slovak twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner, the three-time Olympic champions, going into tomorrow's semi-finals.
However, they will not feature in the final of tomorrow's C2 team competition as Britain finished sixth in yesterday's semis with only the top five countries qualifying.
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Hide AdFlorence is back on the water today in the heats of his best event, the C1 Canadian singles.