Both the women’s pair and men’s four lived up to their billing as gold-medal favourites by producing truly magnificent performances to dominate their respective finals and write their names into the history books.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the outstanding women’s pair of the past five years, became the first-ever British women to successfully defend an Olympic title as they repeated their heroics from Eton Dorney.

Relative rookies back at London 2012, this time the weight of expectation was on their shoulders but they delivered in the style of great champions by leading their race from start to finish.

Glover said: “It’s really difficult to put this feeling into words. To defend your title is something very, very special. The first time we did it, it took a long time to realise we were Olympic champions and it was all new to us. This time round, we crossed the line and we were 2016 champions and we felt like that straight away.”

Stanning added: “It means so much more, we’ve put an awful lot of pressure on ourselves and I’ve been so emotional this week which isn’t me at all.”

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis found themselves under pressure from Australia at the halfway point of the men’s four final but stuck to the gameplan laid down by coach Juergen Grobler to pull clear and surge to victory.

It was a fifth successive Olympic gold medal for the GB men’s four, breaking the previous record of successive victories in the event held jointly by Britain and East Germany.

Gregory, winning his second gold in the four, said: “The last boat I was in, in London, had some incredible positive parts but this is the most consistent performing boat I’ve ever been a part of.”

Nash added: “I’m really pleased, for these guys and for the whole project really. It’s a great crew to be part of.”

There was disappointment for Alan Campbell who had to settle for fourth place in his men’s single scull semi-final after a stunning finish from Belarussian Stanislau Shcharbachenia, which denied the Coleraine rower a shot at a second Olympic medal.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers finished their regatta on a positive note by winning the lightweight men’s double scull B final, while the lightweight women’s double of Charlotte Taylor and Kat Copeland were second in the C final.

Tomorrow GB’s two eights are in action and both are considered medal chances. The women go at 15.04 BST, followed by the men at 15.24 BST.

Click on the expander boxes below for full race reports, reaction and results.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

The post Thirty minutes, two golds – historic day for GB in Rio appeared first on British Rowing.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have been named as World Female Crew of the Year by rowing’s international federation, FISA.

The Olympic Champions were shortlisted for the Award through a public nomination process before being chosen by a vote of the FISA Council.  Their success was announced by FISA at its gala dinner in Sarasota, Florida, USA, this evening where the World Coaches’ Conference is taking place.

In 2015, the GB Rowing Team women’s pair were crowned World and European Champions as well as overall World Cup winners during another unbeaten season.

The other finalists were Australian single sculler Kim Crow, also unbeaten in 2015, and the US women’s eight who earned a record tenth straight win at the World Championships.

Stanning said: “It goes without saying that we are extremely proud of this award. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work in training but also from the people around us – our coach Robin Williams and the whole of the GB Rowing Team support staff.”

Glover said: “We feel very humbled to receive such a global accolade. I’d like to thank everyone who helped us make this possible. Thank you, FISA, for this recognition. We now want to drive on in training every day to continue to improve and be the best we can be in the Olympic season ahead.”

British Rowing Chief Executive Andy Parkinson said: “Helen and Heather are not only successful athletes but are role models for a whole generation of young people. As a sport we are delighted for them and proud of them.”

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, added: “It is fabulous to see two extremely hard-working and dedicated members of our team winning this award from such a strong field of top athletes.”

When Glover and Stanning crossed the line to take World gold in Aiguebelette, France, ahead of New Zealand and the USA in September 2015, Sir David – part of the GB set-up since the 1990s – said:  “That was utterly exceptional. In my book, that ranks as one of the best GB performances of all time.”

The post Glover and Stanning named World Female Crew of the Year appeared first on British Rowing.