READING rowers Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas finished fifth in the double sculls final at Eton Dorney.
The pair, who only started rowing in the pairs this season, were an outside hope for a medal going into the race.
Racing in lane one with a tail to cross wind at Eton Dorney, the conditions were not in favour of the GB pair who had to start well to remain in contention.
World Champions Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen of New Zealand stormed through to take gold medal, closely followed by Italy and Slovenia in third position.
Reading-born Townsend and his partner were in the lead after 250m but faded rapidly in the last 1000m to finish fifth in a time of 6 minutes 40.54 seconds.
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