Martine Veldhuis got the ball rolling for the Dutch rowers by winning the women's lightweight single sculls in 7min 48.95sec as Sofia Meakin of Switzerland and Italian Paola Piazzolla settled for silver and bronze respectively.

This was followed by more Dutch delight as the nation won four races in a row, with success coming in the men’s double sculls, women’s four, men’s four and lightweight women’s double sculls.

The Netherlands then experienced joy in the quadruple sculls with Dirk Uittenbogaard, Abe Wiersma, Tone Wieten, Koen Metsemakers winning the men’s race in 05:39.44 and Laila Youssifou, Inge Janssen, Olivia van Rooijen and Nicole Beukers taking the women’s title in 06:25.66.

"We didn’t have any expectations other than how we wanted to execute our race," Youssifou said.

"After the heats we felt like we could push more.

"We gave it absolutely everything today and it just happened to be enough for the gold."

Wieten added: "Our heat was good, so we knew we had good speed. 

"We just wanted to focus on our race today. 

"Our first half was good, but the second not as much, but obviously we are still very pleased with the result."

Romania also had a day to remember as they picked up four gold medals courtesy of victories in the women’s eight, lightweight men’s double sculls, women’s double sculls and men’s pair.

Martin and Valent Sinković’s hopes of retaining their men’s pairs title were dashed by Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa.

The Romanian duo came home in 06:26.52 to beat the Croatian brothers, who finished in 06:29.46 ahead of Matteo Logo and Giuseppe Vicino of Italy in third in 06:30.55.

"This is a great feeling," said Tudosa. 

"Today we just made sure we raced our race. We expected a good race but to win gold is a dream come true."

Italy struck gold in the lightweight men’s double sculls, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls and lightweight women’s quadruple sculls.

Norway’s Kristoffer Brun was crowned European champion when he won the lightweight men’s single sculls in 06:58.75.

Ireland’s Sanita Pušpure triumphed in the women’s single sculls and Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen clinched the men’s single sculls title, while Germany rounded off the day by winning the men’s eight.