Bay of Plenty rower Julia Edward has secured another world rowing title to add to New Zealand's gold medal haul at the world rowing champs.

The Rotorua born rower along with her rowing partner Sophie MacKenzie defended their lightweight women's at yesterday's meet.

Rowers Sophie MacKenzie (left) and Bay of Plenty rower Julia Edward have won gold at the world rowing champs in France. Photo: File.

The penultimate day of the 2015 world rowing champs regatta in France proved to be another good medal day for Kiwi crews as Hamish Bond and Eric Murray won their eighth world championship gold.

New Zealand boats won two gold and a silver medal on Saturday night (NZ time) to give them four gold and a silver from the first two days of finals at Aiguebelette, with another five boats to contest A finals tonight (NZ time).

The results meant Rowing New Zealand now have seven boats qualified to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro - with the men's and women's eights seeking to seal places on the final day.

Shortly after, the Kiwi crew of Julia and Sophie retained their lightweight women's double scull title from 2014 with a stirring victory over Great Britain and South Africa.

"We're so stoked, we're double world champions now, we're very very excited - our smiles say it all," Julia says.

"I had full confidence in Sophie going through halfway we were all pretty level but I was very confident in our last 500m. We talked about it before the race and Sophie really ramped us up and she got us going. I think it showed in the race, we took length after length so we're really rapt."

The Kiwi men's pair rowed away from the rest of the field in the second 500m of the 2000m event and their winning time of six minutes 15.83 seconds was a quick one. It put them over six seconds ahead of exhausted runners-up, Great Britain's Matt Langridge and James Foad, with an equally shattered Serbian duo of Nenad Bedik and Milos Vasic delighted with bronze.

It was the 61st international race win in succession for the duo, who have yet to be beaten in the boat since teaming up following the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They also have a world champs gold from the four in 2007 and doubled up last year in Amsterdam to also win the men's coxed pair with Caleb Shepherd.

Defending lightweight women's double sculls champions Julia Sophie may have felt the most pressure from within their own camp after teenager Zoe McBride won the lightweight women's single scull the previous day.

Only one lightweight women's boat will race in Rio - the double scull - and Julia and Sophie showed they won't relinquish their seats without a pitched battle. They saw off an early challenge from South Africa and a late one from Great Britain to win in 6:53.01 - more than a second clear of silver medallists GB.

Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast claimed a hugely impressive silver medal in the women's pair final as they boldly chased home the superstar Great Britain duo of Olympic champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning.

The Kiwis, part of the world champion four last year, were within four seconds of the victors, who are becoming the women's equivalent of Bond and Murray with their own lengthy unbeaten streak.

Now Gowler and Prendergast will have to back up on the final day of the regatta as part of the women's eight that chases a medal and also requires a top-five finish to ensure NZ has a women's eight at the Olympic Games for the first time.

The Kiwi women's quad of Erin-Monique O'Brien, Lucy Spoors, Georgia Perry and Sarah Gray couldn't match their fifth-place finish from last year and were sixth and last in their final, with only the top-five gaining their boats places in Rio.

There was also heartbreak for the men's quad of Jade Uru, George Bridgewater, John Storey and Karl Manson.

They needed to finish in the top two of their B final to immediately qualify the boat for the Olympics but after a slow start, looked likely to pass defending champs Ukraine and grab second behind Poland. However, a surge on the line at the end of their collective stroke saw Ukraine hold off the Kiwis by 0.05 seconds - meaning both NZ quads will now have to focus on gaining one of two remaining spots at the last chance regatta in Europe next May.

The lightweight men's double scull crew of Peter Taylor and Hayden Cohen won their C final in 6:23.56, placing them 13th overall in their class. The top 11 boats qualified places for Rio while there are still two places left up for grabs.

Fiona Bourke was fourth in the C final of the women's single scull to end a disappointing year in the boat. Next year it's expected 2014 world champion Emma Twigg will be back to chase one of the three remaining Olympic places.

The NZ men's four were fourth in their C final also to be 16th overall and this boat will likely prove the toughest obstacle for Rowing New Zealand's massive goal of qualifying boats in all 14 classes for the Olympics.

-Stuff