Bronze double for rowers

First, Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington conjured up a storming surge to take the bronze in a dramatic finish to the women's doubles sculls.

Then Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham made it a double celebration when they too came third in the men's double sculls.

But it was Laverick and Bebington, who emulated the Olympic bronze they won in Athens and came so close to making it even better, who were involved in the most drama.

They missed out on gold by just 0.23 seconds with New Zealand twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell successfully defending their Olympic title but only by one hundredth of a second from Germany's Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth.

For Laverick and Bebington it was reward for their perseverance after disappointing in their heats but bouncing back in the repechage to qualify for the final.

Alan Campbell, whose preparations were disrupted two months ago when he required surgery for a knee infection, had earlier come fifth in the men's singles sculls.

The 25-year-old Northern Ireland rower tired in the second half of the race in which Norway's Olaf Tufte retained his Olympic title, with Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic second and New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale taking the bronze.

Campbell, from Coleraine, is renowned for his quick start and was leading by a quarter of a second at the 500m mark, but by half-way Tufte had hauled him in with a half-second advantage and Campbell finished in a time of 7:04.47, almost five seconds behind the winner.

It was no surprise when Louisa Reeve and Olivia Whitlam came last in the women's pair final. They were no match for gold medallists Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania, who successfully defended their title, with the silver going to the fast-finishing Chinese pair You Wu and Yulan Gao and the bronze taken by Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh from Belarus.