Semifinal 1: Lithuania, Belarus, Czech Republic, Australia, Russia, Germany
Australia’s Kim Crow hasn’t lost a race yet this regatta in W1x or W2x. Germany’s Draeger leads away from the start but it’s Crow who leads at 500m. Crow’s race plans seem to be: lead, control, reserve. Knapkova of the Czech Republic is second and Karsten of Belarus now moves into third. Knapkova squeezes past Crow to lead by half a length. Clear water back to Karsten, closely followed by Levina of Russia. Knapkova moves out to clear water over Crow, who is just over a length down. Karsten’s bow is just overlapping Crow’s stern at 1500m. Levina is desperately trying to find speed but has no overlap on Karsten. Karsten closes to half a length behind Crow. Knapkova maintains just over a length and takes the win. Crow has enough margin over fourth not to lift until the last few strokes. She just holds off Karsten to take second. Levina is fourth. Vistartaite of Lithuania and Draeger are lengths behind.

Semifinal 2: Sweden, USA, China, Denmark, New Zealand, Azerbaijan
Mustafayeva of Azerbaijan goes out hard. Five scullers level at 500m; Stone of the USA is behind. Erichsen of Denmark and Twigg of New Zealand lead. Zhang of China is a metre back in third. Twigg drops slightly into third through 1000m but there is little between the top three. Svensson of Sweden trails by 4 seconds. Stone is level with her. Mustafayeva half a length back. Twigg moves towards Erichsen. Zhang responds and takes back 2nd at 1500m. These three still have to work to stay away from the chasers. They pull away as they race each other into the finish. Twigg glances to her right and sees Zhang lifting the rate and moving through her. Erichsen wins by a length. Zhang takes second as Twigg cruises over the line. Stone, Svenssen and Mustafayeva go to the B-final.