Aussie rowers win gold at Munich

The Australian Women's and Men's Eights won gold medals at the first rowing World Cup of the year in Munich, Germany.

In an exceptional performance the Women's Eight crossed the line in a time of 6:36.29 to lead home the Chinese by two boat lengths while Romania was third.

In calmer conditions than the first three days, China led Australia by just under a second at the halfway mark before Australia lifted their rate over the last 750 metres.

Crew captain Sarah Tait said they were forced to change their race plan after a tricky start.

"We got caught in a bit of dirty water at the start of the race which put us further back than we wanted," Tait said.

"We wanted to build a lead from the start but we changed our plan which shows the great versatility of the group."

The Men's Eight led from start to finish to get off to a perfect start to their 2008 campaign.

They recorded a time of 6:05.38 to win by just under a second from Great Britain and China.

With each performance this week the Men's Eight have improved and they broke to a boat length lead after only a quarter of the final.

Stroke Stephan Stewart said the victory was a boost for the squad but it was only a stepping stone to Beijing.

"We got out to a great lead but hit some messy water in the second 1000m so just consolidated our position and then pushed when the others started coming back at us," Stewart said.

"It is great to win the gold but it is only the first step so we won't get too carried away with this one."

Earlier in the day, both the Men's and Women's Quad Scull crews finished in 5th place in their respective finals.

Australia will now enter a two-week training camp in Varese, Italy before World Cup 2 in Switzerland on May 30-June 1.