TOM Ford missed out on a medal in today's World Rowing Championships men's coxed pair final.

Ford, his Leander Club teammate Tim Clarke and cox Harry Brightmore finished behind Hungary, Australia and Germany in Florida in what is their first senior world championships experience.

The former Grange School Rowing Club captain, who hails from Holmes Chapel, and his fellow Newcastle University graduate Clarke qualified fastest from Sunday's heats for the finalbut produced a time more than two seconds slower in the silverware decider.

Britain’s lightweight men’s quadruple scull claimed the team’s first medal of the championships in Sarasota-Bradenton.

The quad of Gavin Horsburgh, Peter Chambers, Ed Fisher and Zak Lee-Green were edged on the line by France.

It capped the first day of finals, with British crews set to line up in 11 medal races over Saturday and Sunday.

British Rowing Performance Director Sir David Tanner said: “As a Team we’ve had an excellent first six days here in Florida.

“At the end of our first season of the new Olympiad, to see so many crews in A finals is testament to the hard work that has been put in by rowers and coaches across the summer and shows what a good place we are in at the start of our long build up to Tokyo 2020.”

Result, men's coxed pair final:

1, Hungary, 06:54.80

2, Australia, 06:56.60

3, Germany, 06:58.37

4, Great Britain (Tim Clarke, Tom Ford and cox Harry Brightmore), 07:01.610