Florijn, 26, went out hard in the early part of the race at the Vaires-sur-Marnes Nautical Stadium before Tokyo champion Twigg closed the gap to half a length just after the midpoint of the 2,000m race.

However, as the 37-year-old Kiwi began to tire Florijn gradually pulled away over the final 500 metres to secure victory by a margin of 1.86 seconds.

Behind them, the race for bronze turned into a thriller, with Senkute coming on strong over the final quarter of the course to edge past Australia’s Tara Rigney with her final stroke.

Just before the women’s race began, Olympic officials announced that the men’s single sculls final would be delayed as traffic congestion had prevented the athletes from getting to the venue on time.

The final, which was due to be the second of four, will now be the last race of the Games, starting at 11.30am.