SEVILLE, Spain -- Mike Altman and Simon Carcagno became the first Americans to ever reach the finals of the lightweight men's pair event Friday at the World Rowing Championships.

Altman of Marin County, Calif., and Simon Carcagno of Pennington, N.J., made a desperate push at the end to edge out Australia and qualify by just .04 seconds.

Chile's Christian Yantani and Miguel Angel Cerda had the fastest time of the day in the event. They are the favorites in Saturday's final, which also includes Italy, Ireland, Britain and Canada.

Defending champion Austria was ousted Friday from the final of the lightweight men's coxless event.

Denmark was quick at the start and extended its lead all the way down the 2,000-meter course on Seville's Guadalquivir River. Italy and France took the other two spots in the final, while Austria finished fourth.

Australia won the other semifinal, in which Germany and Canada also qualified. The United States was sixth and failed to advance.

Germany, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Poland and Greece will line up for the final of the men's lightweight double sculls.

The men's heavyweight quad race will pit season-leader Ukraine against Germany, Poland, Italy, Russia and Belarus. The U.S. boat finished sixth.

Germany's Janet Raduenzel and Claudia Blasberg came in just ahead of Helen Casey and Tracy Langlands of Britain in the women's lightweight double. They qualified along with the Netherlands, Australia, Poland, and Denmark.