Ireland's Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy laid down a marker as they won their heat in the lightweight double sculls in Paris on Sunday morning.
The reigning Olympic champions were comfortable throughout, finishing in a time of 6:34.12, seven seconds ahead of second-placed Norway.
Sitting third early in the race, the Irish duo soon took the lead and used their experience to stay out in front to earn automatic qualification to the A/B semi-finals.
The semi-final takes place on Wednesday.
McCarthy emphasised the work the two have done since a disappointing World Cup outing in Lucerne.
"Good to get out and racing, we've been training really hard since Lucerne. I don't think we've had one day off. Nice to have a rest yesterday," he told RTÉ Sport.
O'Donovan was in a playful mood, having fun with the pair's relatively low seeding ahead of the regatta.
"We've come into this as the big underdogs, seeded way down the list. we like that position, we're the little Davids of this world, going up against the Goliaths of Norway, Switzerland, Italy, these fellas.
"We're working hard to show them we're not here to make up the numbers. We're here for serious business."
Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh advanced to the semi-finals of the women's pair after a battling performance at the at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
The Galway women, part of the women’s four that claimed bronze at the Tokyo Games, have medal ambitions once again and are through to the semi-finals in Paris.
Their heat was won comfortably by Romania, who led from the off to claim the win in a time of 7:24.27.
With three of the four boats advancing, Great Britain’s error at the start left them with an uphill challenge as they found themselves adrift after 500m.
With Czechia the closest challenges to Romania, Keogh and Murtagh began to drift back and approaching 500m to the line, it looked like Great Britain could challenge Ireland for that coveted third spot.
"It's actually quite windy out there," Keogh told RTÉ Sport.
"There's quite a stiff head-breeze so that makes the race a bit longer, makes the boat a bit heavier. We clocked that when we were warming up and kinda readjusted our strategy a little bit."
Murtagh added: "We've a few days now to watch over the race, go through some data some analysis and tweak a few things here and there."
An outstanding finish from Ross Corrigan and Nick Timoney saw the Irish rowers secure their place in the men's pair A/B semi-finals after a thrilling conclusion to their heat.
In a highly competitive race, a photo finish was required to identify which three of the four boats that crossed had progressed, with Ireland edging out world champions Switzerland for the third and final automatic spot.
Spain took victory (6:32.28), with New Zealand taking second spot and the Irish boat third in a time of 6:32.34.
'It's an amazing feeling. We used to look back on our childhood and dream of being here'
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 28, 2024
Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney very satisfied after their men's pairs heat#RTESport #Paris2024 #rowing
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They will return for semi-final action on Wednesday.
Corrigan said: "It was a tight race and we zoned in on ourselves and didn't worry about where everyone else was, took a few looks out coming into the last 500 and stepped on."
Meanwhile, in the women's lightweight double sculls heats, Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey finished in third place after a tough race into a headwind.
British crew of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant dominated proceedings and first spot was never in doubt, but Ireland, after a steady start, started to claw their way back and got into a battle with Greece for second.
Rowing into a headwind, Cremen and Casey had to work hard to bridge the gap and at the three-quarter mark the Greeks had a 2.5 second lead.
The Irish stroke rate increased with more than 400m to got but the duo could not reel in Dimitra Kontou and Zoi Fitsiou.
The time of 7:12.89, four seconds behind Greece and eight behind GB, means they're destined for the repechage.
The women's four of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner finished their heat in third and will also head for the repechage.
