Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand reaffirmed their domination of the men’s pairs class yesterday, romping home to win Olympic gold and extend their long unbeaten streak.

Murray and Bond, who also took gold in the event at the 2012 London Games, have now notched up 69 successive wins in coxless pairs.

“It’s been an amazing thing that’s at the back of our minds but not at the forefront,” Murray said.

“We are always going out to win every race. To win another Olympic gold medal is an amazing achievement and we’re just happy we had an opportunity to go out and do it.”

Their victory on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon was hardly a surprise and other finals provided plenty of thrills and emotion.

Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic secured a gold medal in the men’s double sculls, their country’s first Olympic rowing medal. Martin wept as he made his way from the pontoon but said they were “beautiful tears”.

Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj put in a gritty performance to edge past Britain’s Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley in the final metres of the women’s double sculls, denying Grainger a second gold medal to match the one she took in London.

But the silver meant Grainger became the first British woman to win medals at five Olympic games and her all-time haul of five made her the most decorated British woman Olympian along with 1920’s tennis player Kitty McKane.

“In the last 100m we felt we could catch them and we pushed really hard. We knew we could make champions,” Fularczyk-Kozlowska told reporters.

“Grainger is a legend but in Poland we say you have to beat the champions. In the race we did not think of it. It was just the British crew,” she added after winning Poland’s first women’s Olympic rowing medal.