Impressive performances from water-based Bay of Plenty athletes were highlights of the fifth day of the 2012 London Olympics.

Rower Mahe Drysdale is through to the men's single scull finals.

Rowing:

Mahe Drysdale, who many believe was robbed of gold by sickness in Beijing four years ago, remains the Bay's best gold medal hope after impressive showings ahead of tomorrow night's final in the men's single sculls.

He was impressive in his semi-final, easily accounting for a field including two-time reigning Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, who failed to qualify for the final after finishing in last place.

Women's pair Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown won the bronze medal in the women's pairs.

The men's pair Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are also through to the finals.

Sailing:

Meanwhile, the men's 49er pairing of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke continued their ascent towards the top of the standings after finishes of third and fifth in the fifth and sixth races at Weymouth.

The young pair, who had previously recorded finishes of ninth, seventh, first and seventh, sit in second place with ten races left in the regatta.

'We've sailed well these first couple days, but there's still plenty more work to do – it's a really long regatta,” says Blair.

Windsurfer JP Tobin improved his standings in the RS:X boardriding after a third and seventh place – finishing in sixth place.

Andrew Murdoch in the Men's one person Laser fleet had an impressive race win.

'I had a really good start and managed to just inch my way into the lead at the top mark and then extended at the first run” said Andrew Murdoch after returning to shore.

He followed this up with a solid seventh in the next race, and combined with the ability to now discard his worst race score, Andrew's overall position has moved up to 8th.

Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt's match race win was hard fought for and well deserved in this new Olympic discipline.

The team incurred a penalty in the pre-start and although they led from the first cross upwind, they had to find just the right way and time to clear their penalty, and they succeeded.

They lost their first race to team USA earlier in the day so now this crew are placed fifth equal overall in the round robin, and just three races remain to determine which eight teams will progress to the quarter finals.

Football:

The footballers, featuring former Papamoa resident Tommy Smith, bowed out of the tournament with a record of one draw and two loses after a heavy 3-0 defeat to Brazil this morning.

Hockey:

The men's hockey team fared much better, beating India 3-1 to take some sting out of the memory of a heavy, and lopsided, 2-0 loss to Korea earlier in the week.

Swimming:

The women's 4x200m freestyle relay team broke the national record but failed to gain a spot in the finals finishing 11th fastest.

Day Six of the Olympic action (Thursday and Friday, August 2-3)

Sailing: From 11pm

Men's 49er (Peter Burling, Blair Tuke); Men's RS:X (JP Tobin); Men's 470 (Jason Saunders, Paul Snow-Hansen); Women's Elliott 6m (Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt) Men's Finn (Dan Slater); Men's Star (Hamish Pepper, Jim Turner)

Canoe Slalom: 1.20am

K1 kayak women's semi-final and final (Luuka Jones).

Cycling: From 3am

Men's team pursuit qualifying (Sam Bewley, Aaron Gate, Westley Gough, Marc Ryan, Jesse Sergent);

Men's team sprint qualifying and finals (Eddie Dawkins, Simon van Velthooven, Ethan Mitchell).

Round 1 at 4.45am

Finals at 5.15am

Swimming: From 9pm

Women's 800m freestyle heats (Lauren Boyle) – 9.19pm; Men's 100m butterfly heats (Daniel Bell) – 10.14pm; Women's 200m backstroke heats (Melissa Ingram) – 10.31pm.

Finals from 6.30am

Hockey: 8.15am

Black Sticks women v Argentina