Tom George rued ‘a missed opportunity’ after he was forced to settle for silver at the World Rowing Championships.

The Cheltenham star teamed up with Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair, a class in which Britain have not won at this event since James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent combined for glory in 2002.

George and Wynne-Griffith were confident of ending the drought and found themselves locked in a three-way battle with Switzerland and Ireland throughout a tense final.

Britain entered the final 500m in third and though a flying finish saw them reel in Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, Swiss pair Roman Röösli and Andrin Gulich held firm to take gold.

“We beat the Swiss in the semi-final, but they were just ballsy in the headwind,” George said.

“There was a bit of crosswind too and I struggled with the steering a bit, so I apologise to Ollie for that.

“It's a shame and a missed opportunity. We raced hard, and we might not have got the gold, but we've qualified the boat for the Olympics.

“We keep getting in reach of that World Championship title and it's just slipping away which is a bit annoying.”

Silver marks a best World Championship return for both George and Wynne-Griffith, who took bronze in the men’s pair last year having previously earned two medals of the same colour when part of the men’s eight.

That was not enough to quell their sense of what might have been in Belgrade but both rowers are excited at the prospect of what is to come in the year leading up to Paris, with an Olympic quota place in the bag.

“In that second half when things weren't quite going our way, we did well to get the silver,” Wynne-Griffith added.

“I'm really pleased with the courage, the guts, the cohesion that we pulled together when things weren't going our way, but we can't help but feel like this is a missed opportunity.

“We want to win, and we want to be part of the legacy of this sport.

“We have stepped up a lot this year and done really well in tough conditions here, which I don't think we would have done last year.”

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