THE Ford siblings helped Team GB complete a mission at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria.

Leander Club rowers Tom and Emily, from Holmes Chapel, were in two of the 10 boats that achieved qualification to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

And for Tom he heads home with a bronze medal in his back pocket after the men's eight crew were narrowly edged out by Germany and Netherlands in the A final on Sunday.

Jurgen Grobler's crew of Tom George, James Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Moe Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, Mat Tarrant, Tom Ford and cox Henry Fieldman have admitted to feeling some pain because they wanted a 'higher result' but can also reflect on being overall 2019 World Cup series winners this year after claiming their first gold medal of the Olympiad in Rotterdam in July.

Men’s eight (A final): 1, Germany 05:19.41; 2, Netherlands 05:19.96; 3, Great Britain 05:22.35.

The women’s four, featuring Emily Ford and coached by Tom Pattichis, sealed Olympic qualification in a heated B final.

Sara Parfett, Emily, Polly Swann and Holly Hill needed a top two finish in to secure their qualification spot.

After the Chinese crew got out to a clear lead in the first kilometre, the British crew’s experience showed through.

They held on to third place and made their move in the final 500m to row through both the Canadian and Chinese crews to take the win.

Women’s four (B final): 1, Great Britain 6:55.03; 2, Canada 6:56.99; 3, China 7:02.28.

Director of Performance Brendan Purcell said: “Our goal coming out to this World Championships was always Olympic and Paralympic qualification and the team has delivered.

“To have both our eights heading to the Games is an important marker for a big rowing nation.

“We now need to go away and prioritise our boats, focus on converting the opportunities into medals and look to seek additional qualifications.

"We have a lot of momentum to build on going into next season.”

The men’s eight had become the first British crew to progress through to the A finals at the World Rowing Championships as they put in a dominant performance to finish top of their heat, meaning Tom and company only had two races to contest.

They led from start to finish but had to contend with a big final sprint from the USA and Dutch crews in the final 500m, digging deep to cross the line in first place.

Emily and the women's four were much busier.

After their third-place finish behind Netherlands and Denmark in heat two they entered the repechage, where they were locked in a battle with the New Zealand and Canadian crews for the top three spots.

After the lead changed hands multiple times, the British crew crossed the line in second place to claim their place in the A/B semi-final.

In that semi-final, the GB quartet finished fifth which meant their concluding race would be in the B final.