Croatia rower Valent Sinkovic celebrated his 36th birthday by coming from behind to win a sensational gold in the men's pair together with his brother Martin at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

In the women's race minutes later, the Netherlands took control from the start, opening up a big lead that they never relinquished and cruised to victory in 6:58.67 to take gold.

With the British crew of Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George having led for most of the race, the Croatian brothers made a late break for glory and crossed the line in a time of 6:23.66, 0.45 seconds ahead of the British crew.

The Swiss pair of Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich took the bronze in a time of 6:24.76.

The dominance of Dutch women's pair Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester in their race was never threatened as they eased to victory, leaving Romania and Australia in a furious battle for second place that came down to the last few metres.

The Australians looked like they had it wrapped up, but the Romanian crew squeezed past them just before the finish line to take the silver medal by just over half a second.