Rowing: Germans Pip British Men's Quad

The dream of Matt Langridge, Matthew Wells, Steve Rowbotham and Alan Campbell to become the first British quad to qualify for a final place at a world championships for 23 years will have to wait another year for fulfilment.

In a hotly contested semi-final the young Britons battled neck and neck with the experienced Germans for the third qualifying slot, just behind Poland and Slovenia. They edged briefly ahead at halfway but Robert Sens, the canny multi-medal-winning German stroke, mounted a counter- attack at 40 strokes a minute which he sustained throughout the second 1,000 metres to power home a second ahead.

Although it was a disappointing result, the ambitious scullers have their sights set on the Beijing Olympics and they will take heart from the fact that they are now snapping at the heels of quads who at the moment have more understanding of the intricacies of crew sculling.

With eight British crews already through to the weekend finals, there was pressure on the lightweight team to make good their early-season promise and deliver at least one Olympic class finalist. Unfortunately for their new coach Robin Williams the task proved still to be beyond them and all four crews slipped off the pace and out of the three qualifying places.

But their improvement this season over recent years has been clear and Williams, who took over only in April after the end of his contract with Cambridge University, now has a full year to produce a convincing lightweight team for next year's world championships on the new Eton course at Windsor.

The adaptive mixed four won their race for lanes and look set today to retain the title they won last year, while Rob Holliday has a tough task in the adaptive single.

Today the new men's four hope to emulate the daunting record of their eminent predecessors - the now retired knights of world rowing Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent - as they seek their first world title in the face of strong opposition from the Netherlands and the United States.

Debbie Flood and Elise Laverick are in with a chance of a medal in the double sculls and tomorrow is the turn of the quad, the strongest women's crew ever produced by Britain, and the new eight.