George and Wynne-Griffith point to execution as key to missing out on European gold

By Will Jennings in Munich

Tom George and Oliver Wynne-Griffith took aim at a terribly executed race plan after missing out on European gold in Munich.

Cheltenham star George, 27, still claimed silver on Saturday morning but believes the duo had considerably more to give in the men’s pair final.

George and Wynne-Griffith, 28, finished 2.24s behind champions Romania as a sluggish start proved fatal at the city’s Olympic Regatta Centre.

Olympic bronze medallist George was in no mood to celebrate silver and hopes the setback will prove a valuable lesson ahead of the World Championships in Racice next month.

He said: “It’s not really good enough and the standard we’ve set ourselves.

“We know we’re faster than that and we want to put more out there, to be honest.

“I think we probably had a bit more in the tank that we didn’t use – we didn’t get our race plan right and didn’t settle into the rhythm we wanted.

“A silver medal is obviously still great and coming second in the European Championships is amazing, but we were hoping for a bit more.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks now to go and work hard ahead of the World Championships.”

George and Wynne-Griffith cruised through their opening heat on Thursday before a similarly dominant display in Friday’s semi-final marked them out as red-hot favourites for gold.

But they started slowly on Saturday and left themselves with too much to do as the Romanian crew bolted clear.

Wynne-Griffith, who also bagged Olympic bronze with George in the eight last summer, corroborated his partner’s assessment and wants to pivot his attention towards next month’s main event in the Czech Republic.

The Surrey star said: “It’s disappointing but a lesson we’ve got to learn .

“The races you lose are generally harder lessons, but are more valuable ones to learn from.

“If we learn something from this and it comes away and it makes us faster in six weeks, that’s the path we have to take.

“The goal is six weeks’ time, so that’s where the focus is at from this point onwards.”

The multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022, featuring Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Canoe Sprint, Cycling, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Rowing, Sport Climbing, takes place 11th-21st August on the 50th anniversary of the Olympics Games in the Germany city. Watch daily live coverage across BBC One, Two, Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website