NZ's Bond and Murray continue long win streak

The duo from New Zealand were 68 races unbeaten heading into Thursday's final, and promptly displayed their superiority to easily defend the title they won in 2012.

New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond with their men's pair gold medals.

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray produced yet another dominant performance to claim gold in the men’s pair at Rio 2016. The duo from New Zealand were 68 races unbeaten heading into Thursday’s final, and promptly displayed their superiority to easily defend the title they won in 2012.

Bond and Murray broke clear of the field in the second 1000 metres, coming home in a time of six minutes and 59.71 seconds.Their triumph marks New Zealand’s first gold of the Rio Games, adding to the two silver medals won by the country.

South Africa’s Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling produced an impressive finish to claim the silver, crossing the line 2.80s behind the Kiwi pair. Italy’s Giovanni Abagnale and Marco Di Costanzo took bronze ahead of Great Britain’s Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes.

Double delight for Germany in quadruple sculls

Germany clinched both the gold medals in men’s and women’s quadruple sculls on Thursday.

After the crew of Phillipp Wende, Lauritz Schoof, Karl Schulze and Hans Gruhne finished in a time of 6:06.81sec to beat silver medallists Australia (6:07.96) in men’s, the women’s team of Julia Lier, Carina Bär, Lisa Schmidla and Annekatrin Thiele won the final with a time of 6:49.39.

Estonia took bronze in the men’s event.

It was an all-European medals sweep in the women’s event. Netherlands claimed the silver medal and Poland finished third in the women’s event.

Poles win women’s double sculls

Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj edged past Britain’s Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley in the final meters of the race to snatch the gold medal in the women’s double sculls at the Olympic rowing regatta on Thursday.

The nail-biter saw the two boats neck-and-neck for much of the race. Britain led Poland by just .64 seconds at the halfway mark and appeared poised to win.

But the gritty Poles never gave up and found an extra burst of power with the finishing line in sight. They clocked 7 minutes 40.10 seconds, 0.95 ahead of Grainger and Thornley.

Grainger had won the gold medal in London in 2012 with Anna Watkins. Grainger’s silver on Thursday was her fifth medal in five Olympics.

Croatian brothers win men’s double sculls final

Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic secured a gold medal in the men’s double sculls final in the Olympic rowing regatta on Thursday, in a tough duel that saw them battling Lithuania’s boat neck-and-neck for much of the race.

After taking an early lead and holding Lithuania’s Mindaugas Griskonis and Saulius Ritter to the second-place spot through the 1000-meter mark, Croatia slipped back into second place in the third-quarter.

Lithuanian fans in the stands at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon cheered wildly as the two boats battled for gold through the final half of the race.

Ultimately, Croatia won in a time of 6:50.28, Lithuania claimed silver in 6:511.39 and Norway took bronze.

Gold for Switzerland in men’s coxless four

Reigning world champions Switzerland edged out Denmark to claim gold in the men’s coxless lightweight four.