Great Britain's men's four and women's pair won the gold medals they had expected at Lagoa Stadium on Friday, as favourites Netherlands and France triumphed in the lightweight doubles events.

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Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are world champions in their boat class, the women's pair. After surviving a scare in the heats when Danish duo Anne Anderson/Hedvig Rasmusson led them to 1500m, the British pair made no errors in the final.

Anderson and Rasmussen said they were surprised with their bronze, behind Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent who are racing for New Zealand in the women's eight final tomorrow.

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In the men's four, Constantine Louloudis/George Nash/Mohamed Sbihi/Alex Gregory (GBR) made it five Olympic gold medals in a row for Great Britain in this boat class. Gregory was in the boat which triumphed at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis of Great Britain won gold for Great Britain (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Behind them Australia's Alexander Hill/Joshua Booth/Joshua Dunkley-Smith/William Lockwood won a third successive silver medal for Australia - the second in a row for Dunkley-Smith and Lockwood.

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Although all four finals were won by the pre-race favourites, there were upsets in the other medals with several won by crews which had only just made it to the finals.

Perhaps the most popular was Ireland's silver medal in the lightweight men's doubles, the National Olympic Committee's first in Olympic rowing.

Brothers Paul and Gary O'Donovan have won fans around the world for their enthusiasm after each race. They won their medal in a sprint for the line with bronze medallists Kristoffer Brun/Are Strandli of Norway.

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While French world champions Jeremie Azou and Pierre Houin won the lightweight men's doubles there was disappointment for lightweight women's double sculls world champions Julia Edward/Sophie Mackenzie from New Zealand.

The New Zealanders finished fourth, as holders of the world's best time Ilse Paulis/Maaike Head (Netherlands) pushed through the field to win the closing sprint, ahead of a delighted Patricia Obee/Lindsay Jennerich (Canada) and Chinese pair Huang Wenyi/Pan Feihong.

Rainy conditions at Lagoa Stadium (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Saturday's action

The final day of rowing at the Lagoa Stadium will see medals handed out in the sport's blue riband events - the men's and women's singles and the men's and women's eights.

London 2012 women's single sculls champion Miroslava Topinkova Knapkova of the Czech Republic will not defend her title after finishing fourth in Friday's semi-final.