MATTHEW Langridge won a silver medal for Great Britain on Sunday as part of a new crew during the latest World Cup regatta in Lucerne.

He was part of the men’s pair, together with James Foad, that finished second in the final behind the reigning Olympic champions from New Zealand.

The duo hopes to be given a chance to close the gap further by staying in the same boat for next month’s World Championships in Amsterdam.

The squad will be named later this week.

Langridge, twice a medallist at the Olympic Games in an eight, has promised more to come after edging European champions Serbia into third position.

He said: “It’s not a surprise for us even if it was for everybody else.

“We came here with that in mind – to finish second behind the Kiwis.

“We know they’re the dominant crew in the world, so to follow them was pretty realistic considering we’ve only been training together for the past two weeks.

“Now we can build on that, and hopefully get closer to them.”

Together with Molesey Boat Club member Foad, the 31-year-old from Northwich showed encouraging speed throughout in Switzerland.

The duo won their heat on Friday ahead of Italy, fifth at the European Championships last month, before beating Serbia in the quarter finals later the same day.

They trailed Italy in the first semi final on Saturday.

After being drawn alongside Kiwi tandem Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, unbeaten in five seasons since starting to race as a pair, the British combination was fourth after 500m.

They improved to third by halfway before stroke man Langridge upped the rate during a thrilling sprint in the final 200m, during which they slipped past Serbia to scoop silver in 6:37.88.

New Zealand were emphatic victors in 6:28.70.

Great Britain won four golds in the campaign’s final World Cup event, all by crews who had won in their category at Aiguebelette last time out.

“It has been a positive day today with our 11 Olympic class finalists and eight medals from those, as well as two medals from the international classes,” said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing performance director.

“Lucerne has not always been our finest regatta, but we have laid a very good base for our World Championships campaign.”

To watch the men's pair final from Sunday in full, click here: http://bit.ly/1l2uWaY