Ireland's new crew of Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan (22) and Patrick Boomer (23) found the going tough in their second race at the World Rowing Championships in Florida. The Ireland pair showed plenty of spirit in their repechage, but only the top three crews took places in the semi-finals, and they had to settle for fifth, and a place in the C Final.

The race was won by Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik of Serbia, who gave a lesson in race management. They took over from early leaders Spain just before halfway and controlled matters from there on. The Spanish took second, while the United States fought off a late charge by Argentina to take third by .35 of a second.

McQuillan-Tolan and Boomer had put Denmark behind them from early on, and tried to take over in fourth in the third quarter. Argentina rebutted the challenge. The C Final, for places 13 to 18, is set to take place on Saturday.

Three Ireland crews compete on Wednesday. Single sculler Sanita Puspure and the Ireland women's pair of Aileen Crowley and Aifric Keogh have repechages and Paul O'Donovan competes in the quarter-final of the lightweight single sculls.