Great Britain's coxless four were outclassed in missing out on the medal podium at the World Rowing Championships in Munich. Andy Hodge, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Steve Williams were unbeaten since 2004 but finished behind New Zealand, Italy and the Netherlands.
But better news came from double sculls pair Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington, who took bronze in their event.
Men's coxless pair Matthew Langridge and Colin Smith also won bronze.
"Of course we had hoped for and expected better across the board today", said GB performance director David Tanner.
"The men's four result was a big disappointment but we should celebrate the excellent bronzes from our men's pair and women's double."
The four lacked their usual spark off the start but were still first to the 500m mark.
However, by the half-way mark they had dropped back to third with the Netherlands picking up the lead.
And as the second half unfolded it became obvious they were not together enough to pick up the pace.
"There wasn't one point in the race where you could pinpoint what went wrong", said Hodge afterwards.
"We're better than that, I just feel empty", said Reed. "Something just wasn't quite right".
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With 600m to go in the pairs race, Langridge and Smith wound up the tempo, pushed past Serbia and France with a quarter of the race remaining, and held on.
Their time of six minutes 31.06 seconds saw them finish behind Australia and New Zealand.
"We've worked hard and gradually moved up this season and it's now good to be on the podium," said Smith.
Northern Ireland's Alan Campbell was a medal hope in the single sculls but came fourth.
New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale claimed gold for the third time, with Czech Ondrej Synek second, and Olympic champion Olaf Tufte third.
In the women's double's event, there was a photo-finish at the line between Great Britain and New Zealand for the silver and bronze.
But the Antipodean Olympic champions - the Ever-Swindells twins, who GB had beaten in the heats - edged it by just two hundredths of a second.
"We left ourselves with too much to do" said Bebington.
Meanwhile Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham finished one place off the medals in the men's double sculls, failing to repeat their bronze medal of a year ago.
They were well-placed within the chasing pack for much of the race but could not hold on in the final sprint.
"I'm bitterly disappointed," said Wells. "But we're definitely in the running for gold next year."
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Interview: GB men's coxless four crew
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