Rowing: Ireland's lightweight four of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley could only manage fifth place in today's final at the World Cup regatta in Munich.
The Irish quartet, in lane three in the centre of the course, made a sluggish start in the decider as the powerful Chinese crew stretched the field.
And despite battling gamely, they were unable to bridge the gap on the leaders coming home in a time of six minutes, 33.9 seconds.
"We've used this as a learning experience. We had an okay heat, being honest a pretty ropey semi-final and then today," Archibald said after the race.
"I think we thought about it, and we experimented and we came out of it with a good row today. I think with the conditions still unfair we put in a good performance, and put ourselves in a good position."
Earlier today, the Irish heavyweight men's four of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O'Neill and James Wall came home fourth in their B final.
Lightweight four result
1 China1 6:27.81 4
2 Britain 6:28.40 6
3 Germany 6:28.78 5
4 France 6:32.26 2
5 Ireland 6:33.90 3
6 Serbia 6:43.18