Silver in the ASM1x went to Erik Horrie of Australia after he finished strongly and Aleksey Chuvashev of Russia took bronze, with defending champion Tom Aggar of Great Britain down in fourth.

Huang and Chuvashev both went faster than Aggar's old world record in the heat and it was they who set the early pace.

The Chinese rower, who won Paralympic gold in his first year of international competition, said: 'I am very excited for the gold and for breaking the record.'

No rival had ever previously got within two seconds of Aggar in a head-to-head race through a dominant career dating back to his World Championship triumph in 2007.

'I am absolutely devastated,' Aggar said. 'The two guys to the left of me were really fast. When I tried to dig deep there was nothing there.'

Great Britain's Mixed Coxed Cours - LTAMix4+ beat chief rivals Germany in a thrilling sprint for the line to win gold.

David Smith, James Roe, Naomi Riches, Pam Relph and cox Lily van den Broecke added the Paralympic crown to the world title they won in Bled last year.

We've trained for this one moment for years and there was no way we were going to let anyone beat us. This is our lake.

Pam Relph

Relph said: 'We knew we were fast. We've trained for this one moment for years and there was no way we were going to let anyone beat us. This is our lake.'

Ukraine's Alla Lysenko won the women's Single Sculls - ASW1x, ahead of Nathalie Benoit of France and Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus.

'Oh my God, I can't speak. I am so excited. Very happy,' Lysenko said.

In the Mixed Double Sculls - TAMix2x, China's pairing of Lou Xiaoxian and Fei Tianming took gold with France's Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu collecting silver ahead of Oksana Masters and Rob Jones of the USA.