Great Britain’s rowers and archers made an early mark on the Olympic Games in the final hours before the Opening Ceremony.
Led by Vicky Thornley, all four sculling boats will return to the waters in the Olympic regatta after Friday morning heat action at Sea Forest Waterway.
Rio silver medallist Thornley was the first of Team GB’s individual athletes to compete in Tokyo, extending a boat length clear of 2017 world champion Jeannine Gmelin to win her heat.
"Coming to the Olympics in the single has been a dream of mine for some time, so it's good to be out there doing what I love,” said Thornley, the first Brit to qualify in her event since Sydney 2000.
The Welsh star was second fastest of any female single sculler through 1000m and finished in 7:44.30, qualifying quicker than Ireland's reigning world champion Sanita Puspure and European champion Hanna Prakatsen.
Thornley races next in the quarter-final on Monday.
John Collins and Graeme Thomas held off Romania to come second in a double sculls heat that saw the Olympic Best time fall.
Stroked by Rio fourth-placer Collins, they finished 4.42 seconds behind the Netherlands who won in a Games record of 6:08.38. France lowered the mark set at London 2012 in the opening heat.
"We were perhaps a little bit frustrated with our performance," said Collins. "Had we got a better start, which we are capable of doing, we would have taken the pressure off ourselves and made life a bit easier.
"The beauty of an Olympic format is that you've got a bit of time to fix these things and make changes."
The men’s quad sill have to rely on Sunday morning’s repechage after missing out on automatic qualification for the A final by 0.47 seconds.
Stroke Jack Beaumont, Tom Barras, Angus Groom and Harry Leask wound it up in the closing stages and came home third behind Netherlands and Australia.
Their youthful counterparts in the women’s quad face the same fate, holding their own in the early stages their heat to also finish third.
With sisters Mathilda and Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne in the engine room, joined by Lucy Glover and Hannah Scott, they were only a canvas down on Germany at halfway but finished 1.44 shy of the Dutch in second.
Commenting on conditions, Scott said: "There's wind, there's heat, there's choppy water. There's a lot going on out there. It's salty, as well, which changes the feel of it. There are a lot of different factors for us but nothing we can't adapt to.
"The more races you get down the course, because of the variable conditions, it will be good to feel them over and over again."
Meanwhile, archer Sarah Bettles impressed to finish 15th in the ranking round at Yumenoshima Field.
The Essex-born ace shot 653 out of a possible 720 to progress as Britain’s female representative in Saturday’s mixed team event and seal a strong seeding for the individual competition.
The Olympic debutant hit a maximum 10 score 27 times and the innermost target on 11 occasions, bettered only by India’s Deepika Kumari and South Korea duo Chae Young Kan and An San, who set an Olympic record.
Bryony Pitman finished 38th with 634, including 24 tens, and Naomi Folkard 47th with 629, with both joining Bettles in the women's team event on Sunday.
The British trio will face Italy with the winner going on to face South Korea in the quarter-finals.
Patrick Huston will combine with Bettles as the mixed team format makes its Olympic bow tomorrow, having finished 25th in the ranking round.
The Northern Irishman was on the cusp of a top ten finish after hitting three tens in the fourth and seventh end, ending with a score of 658.
James Woodgate finished 38th with 652 and Tom Hall 48th with 649, with the trio also joining forces to face Indonesia in the first knockout round of the men's team event.
Sportsbeat 2021