[1]
Bond and Eric Murray blitzed their opponents to win the men's coxless pairs at the world championships in Poznan, Poland.
Their effort came five months after Otago cyclist Alison Shanks won the 3000m individual pursuit at the world cycling championships in Pruskow, Poland.
Bond, who is based with the national squad at Lake Karapiro but rows out of Dunedin's North End club, won four red coats at the national championships in February.
Bond and Murray are now double world champions, having been part of New Zealand's triumphant men's four two years ago.
They were heavily favoured going into the race and left their competition in no doubt as they jumped out to a commanding lead after just 500m.
"We just flew out at the start," Bond said.
"We gave it everything in that first 500 and took that length."
The burden of expectations was not something Bond and Murray were used to in the four.
But unbeaten going into this final, they were well aware they were marked men.
It was clearly something that played on the mind, with a look of relief written across their faces as they came off the water.
"It's a weight off my shoulders," Bond said.
"I've been stressing the last few days. It was a new thing for us going in as favourites."
The British pair of Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed were expected to be their main threat, and that was the case as they pursued the New Zealanders down the course.
However, they never had the boat speed as Bond and Murray romped away to win in 6min 15.93sec, just over a second outside the world record.
"There were times throughout the season when I was thinking, `this better be worth it because, man, it sucks right now'," Bond said.
"We did some really hard training with [coach] Dick [Tonks] this year but it's all worth it now."
Bond, who was a pupil at Otago Boys High School, and Murray now take aim at world domination in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics.
Links:
[1] http://www.odt.co.nz/files/story/2009/08/new_zealand_s_gold_medalists_hamish_bond_right_and_7569405504.jpg