British pair Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George were agonisingly pipped to Olympic gold by Croatian brothers Valent, who was celebrating his 36th birthday and Martin Sinkovic, in Paris on Friday morning.
The Team GB duo, childhood friends, are known for their power and led by as much as a boat length at one stage.
But the one facet lacking is their sprint and the Sinkovic siblings timed it just right to pip them to the line by just half a second.
It was still one better for George and Wynne-Griffith than in Tokyo where they took home the bronze in the men’s eight, one of the few highlights from a tough Games for GB Rowing.
They were the pre-event favourites having been unbeaten this season, with Wynne-Griffith aiming to emulate the gold won by girlfriend Hannah Scott earlier in this regatta in the quadruple sculls.
And for much of the race, Wynne-Griffith, whose great grandfather rowed for Britain at the 1932 Olympics in the eight, and George, who only initially took up rowing to keep fit outside of the rugby season, looked set to follow suit.
But as their experienced Croatian rivals upped the pace, they had no answer and had to make do with the silver.
