HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England — Southern California got out to a strong start and beat a Danish crew by 1½ lengths today to advance to the finals of the most prestigious race at the Henley Royal Regatta.

The California crew won its Grand Challenge Cup semifinal for international eights against a composite team from Bagsvaerd Roklub and Danske Studenters Roklub. The USC boat included six members of the Estonia national eight that failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

USC will face a composite Canadian team from the Victoria City and Kingston rowing clubs that beat English club Leander.

In the Temple Cup semifinals for student eights, Trinity College of Connecticut mastered strong winds and rough water for a two-length victory over Stanford. Trinity will take on the University of Western Ontario, Canada, which beat Harvard University by 3¼ lengths.

U.S. Olympic selections Wesley Piermarini and Elliot Hovey from California Rowing Club of Oakland will face Peter and Thomas Graves of the Bantam Boat Club of Cincinnati in Sunday's Double Sculls Challenge Cup final. The race will be a rerun of the final U.S. Olympic trial, in which California led Bantam across the line.

Piermarini and Hovey advanced with an easy victory over Ross Hunter and Ian Lawson of Leander. The Graveses defeated Gabriel Winkler and Daniel Simkin from California Rowing Club by five lengths.

In the Fawley Challenge Cup for schoolboy quadruple sculls, Malvern Preparatory School of Pennsylvania lost by 1¾ lengths in a semifinal to an English composite from Peterborough City and Nottingham. Malvern had beaten the Cathedral School of Australia by 3¾ lengths in the quarterfinals.