LARKHILL-based Heather Stanning and her rowing partner Helen Glover stormed to gold in the women’s pair at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The world champions defended their London 2012 title with a blistering performance on Friday.

The pair led from the start and finished 1.2 seconds clear of nearest rivals New Zealand pair,  Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent, with a time of 7:18.29s.

Denmark’s Hedvig Rasmussen and Anne Andersen (7:20.71) won their country’s first medal in the discipline, taking bronze.

Stanning, 31, a British Army Captain serving and training in the 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery at Larkhill Garrison, near Salisbury, said: “This week’s been an emotional week.

“I’m not a very emotional person, but I’m going to have to change that after this week.”

The duo, who were 1/9 favourites to win with some bookmakers, stretched their unbeaten run to 39 races that goes back five years.

They were given a scare in the heats by Denmark before cruising through Thursday’s semi-finals and then the final, which was Great Britain’s 17th medal of the Olympic Games.

Their stunning display was one of five medals bagged on the lake by Team GB.

Three golds and two silvers was enough to see Team GB top the group on the lake.

Apart from the women’s pairs, other top spots were clinched by the men’s four and men’s eight, while second positions arrived in the form of the women’s double sculls and women’s eight.

Their nearest rivals, with three medals, were Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Netherlands, respectively.

Glover, from Cornwall, and Stanning kick-started their Olympic journey four years ago in London where they won GB’s first medal at the games.

Stanning went on to set the world record time in partnership with Glover at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, and they retained their World title at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Lac d’Aiguebelette, France.

This year, they retained their European title at Brandenburg an der Havel, and set the World Rowing Cup record time at Poznan.