The Netherlands have set a world record in men's quadruple sculls with a sprint over the final 500 meters to win the gold medal in windy conditions Wednesday at the Summer Olympics in Japan.
Their time of 5 minutes, 32.03 seconds beat the previous mark of 5:32.26 set by Ukraine at the 2014 world championships.
The Dutch boat was fourth after the first 500 meters but had closed to second by the next marker. A late push overtook Great Britain for the lead.
Great Britain then held off a late charge by Australia to win silver.
Windy conditions produced a strong tailwind for the rowers at Tokyo's Sea Forest Waterway, and both world and Olympic records were set in each of Wednesday's six medal races.
Women's Quad Sculls
China smashed the world record in women's quadruple sculls and won gold.
The Chinese boat finished in 6 minutes, 0.13 seconds and shaved nearly two seconds off the previous mark set by the Netherlands in 2014.
The race was never close. Poland won silver more than 6 seconds behind the Chinese.
Australia won bronze.
Men's Double Sculls
The French team of Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias has held off a late charge from the Netherlands over the final 50 meters to win the men's double sculls by 0.2 seconds in Olympic record time of 6:33.
China made a strong move out of the start before falling back even with the French and the Netherlands. The Dutch boat of Melvin Twellaar and Stef Broenink briefly held the lead at 1,500 meters.
Boucheron and Androdias quickly reeled in the Dutch with a powerful push that was good enough to hold off a late charge at the finish line.
China's Zhiyu Liu and Liang Zhang finished third for bronze.
Women's Four
Australia's women's four set an Olympic-best time to win the gold medal.
The Australian boat led at each marker but had to fight off the Netherlands over the last 50 meters to win in 6:15.37 seconds, just .34 seconds ahead of the Dutch boat.
Ireland took bronze more than 5 seconds back.
Men's Four
Australia's men's four charged to victory moments after the Aussie women claimed their gold.
Australia had bolted to the front by the 500-meter mark and never were challenged for the lead to reach in the finish line as Romania fought a late surge by Italy to claim the silver medal.
Australia's time of 5:42.76 set an Olympic record. Italy won bronze.
Women's Double Sculls
Romania's Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis bolted from the start and never let up in a dominating performance in the women's sculls.
The Romanians were never challenged and led by two boat lengths with just 500 meters to go. Bodnar and Radis are both just 22.
Their sprint to victory left the only fight for the silver medal, where New Zealand's Brooke Donohue and Hannah Osborne edge the Dutch boat of Roos de Jong and Lisa Scheenaard.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.