The British pair, who had finished fourth in the senior GB trials and seventh in the recent senior World Cup in Lucerne, overhauled the defending champions at the halfway point and were never troubled thereafter.

They crossed the line in 6min 20.43sec, breaking the previous world best by five seconds.

Britain's Katherine Copeland held off a strong challenge from the reigning champion, Alena Kryvasheyenka of Belarus, to win gold in the lightweight women's single sculls.

"I was dying out there," said Copeland.

"I was just holding on and counting strokes."


Gold also went to Peter Chambers and Kieren Emery in the lightweight men's pair and in the lightweight men's four, thanks to Jonathan Clegg, John Preston, William Fletcher and Jamie Kirkwood (pictured).

World best times were set in all but one of the 13 events on the final day of the championships, with crews being helped by tailwind conditions on the Bosbaan regatta course despite tricky conditions.

Germany finished at the top of the medals table, earning a total of 13 medals, six of them gold.

France earned a total of five medals, including one gold in the lightweight men's single sculls.

Three nations earned four medals: Great Britain, the United States and Italy.

Great Britain earned three gold medals in the lightweight women's single sculls, lightweight men's pair and men's pair, as well as a bronze in the men's eight, and the US took home two golds - one in the women's pair and the other in the men's eight, while Italy took gold in the lightweight men's four.

Host country, the Netherlands, earned two bronze medals, one in the women's four and the other in the women's pair.


Jérémie Azou (pictured) of France knocked nearly nine seconds of the world best time when he raced to perfection in the lightweight men's single sculls, dominated and outclassing the rest of the field with his boat speed.

One of the most exciting races of the day happened in the lightweight men's four when the crews approached the final stretch of the race all still closely packed.

In the excitement, medal hopefuls Germany missed a stroke and were out of the medals, while Italy charged through to take gold followed by France and Spain.

There was no hiding the joy of these three crews as they stood to receive their medals.


In the lightweight women's double sculls, Greece's Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou (pictured) claimed their third Under-23 World Champion title, while in the men's double sculls Lauris Sire and Dairis Adamaitis from Latvia claimed their second title in a row.

After winning bronze in the men's quadruple sculls last year in Brest and silver in 2009, Ukraine finally stepped up to grab gold in this event in Amsterdam.

Defending Champions Germany managed to retain their under-23 title in the women's double sculls with a new line-up featuring Daniela Schultze and Mareike Adams.

The blue riband events, the men's and women's eights, came through with rather unexpected results.

Defending champions in the men's eight Germany ended out of the medals when the United States, Czech Republic and Great Britain rowed superior races.

For the women, the defending champions United States finished with bronze after Canada and New Zealand pushed ahead to take gold and silver.

In the men's single sculls, Germany revealed a new talent - Hubert Trzybinski, who stands over two metres tall and sprinted through to finish nearly seven seconds ahead of his closest competitor.


In the equivalent women's event, Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania successfully defended her title, overtaking the experienced German Carina Baer, to claim back-to-back under-23 wins.

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