The U.S. men's eight crew, including fourth seat Wyatt Allen of Portland, surged past Australia in the final 500 meters to win their repechage race and advance to Sunday's Olympic finals at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park.

The repechage is a second-chance race for the six teams that did not win the heats. The U.S., Australia, the Netherlands and Poland advanced, joining Great Britain and defending world champion Canada in Sunday's finals.

The U.S. women qualified for the finals on Monday. Their race Sunday will be at 5:10 a.m. while the men's race will be at 5:30 a.m.

The U.S. men are the defending Olympic champions.

The U.S. won in 5:38.95, making up a .91 second deficit to Australia in the final 500 meters. Australia finished second in 5:40.31.

"There were a couple of places we wanted to press and that was one,'' said Allen. "We take pre-planned pushes where the (rowing) rate goes up and you empty your tank for the finish.''

Allen, who was a member of the Gold medal winning team in 2004, went on to say the race was probably the "best piece I've been part of the last couple of years.''

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