Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre have dismissed talk that it's a two-horse race for the women's pair Olympic gold medal despite the Australian and Dutch rowers blitzing their heats.
Gold medallists in the women's four in Tokyo, where they also doubled up in the pair and finished seventh, Morrison and McIntyre have a single, steely focus in Paris.
And it appears to be paying off.
After a sluggish start, the Australians posted the fastest time of the three heats on Sunday morning, just ahead of Dutch world champions Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester, who also won their heat.
The next best time, clocked by Greece, was almost three seconds behind in perfect conditions at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course.
McIntyre said it was "exciting" to put out a strong first showing and be quickest, after finishing second behind the Dutch duo at last year's world championships.
"We were a little bit surprised as there's some really fast crews out there, so it's pretty exciting to get that top seed position," the West Australian said.
But McIntyre dismissed talk that only the Aussies or Clevering and Meester could win gold.
"We try not to listen to the commentators too much," the 27-year-old said.
"We learnt that a few years ago and now we watch our races back without commentary to try and pick what we think we need to work on.
"There are definitely two or three other crews that move fast so there's a lot of people to pick from."
While the women's pair appeared in stellar form, Patrick Holt and Simon Keenan were way off the pace in their heat of the men's pair and will go through the repechage round.
The women's four also struggled, finishing at the back of their heat.
The men's four, led by Alex Hill, who won gold in the event in Tokyo and silver in Rio, looked sharp in their heat to place second behind the Americans.
Hill has been joined in the boat by Jack Robertson, Fergus Hamilton and Tim Masters for this campaign..
New Zealand won the other heat ahead of Great Britain with those four crews advancing directly to Thursday's medal race.
"We're happy with what we put out in the heat," said South Australian Hill.
"Happy to be into the medal race."
Hill's teammates from Toyko - Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alex Purnell - are now racing in the coxless eight making the new-look four almost an unknown prospect.
They have had success against the top crews at two World Cups this year, finishing second and fourth.
Starting with the "Oarsome Foursome" in 1992, Australia has only missed the Olympic podium once in the event.
But they bristled about a suggestion they were flying under the radar, particularly with Olympic champion Hill on board.
"We know Australia has had a lot of success in the men's four in the past but I don't think anyone is flying under the radar," Hill said.
Hamilton, whose father rowed for Great Britain in Atlanta in 1996, added that personality of the crew came across as "pretty calm" but that changed on the start line.
"That's who we are but we're also racers and we love getting out there and showing everyone what we're capable of," the 24-year-old said.
