The 23 crews first raced in three heats on August 26. The top three finishers from each heat advanced directly to the semifinals while the remaining 14 teams were relegated to the repechage heats.
Canada's time in heat two not shown in the official report while Luxembourg and Switzerland are switched in the official report in heat three though the athletes for both countries were in the correct finishing position in the report.
Repechages
The top three finishers in each of the three repechages, which took place on August 27, advanced to the semifinals.