MATT Beechey’s World Championship medal hopes sank in Austria as his Great Britain lightweight quadruple scull crashed out in the repechage.

A half-way lead in their five-boat qualifier evaporated in the third quarter and the Worcester Rowing Club oarsman’s boat trailed in fifth, one place off a final slot.

It was a bitter end to a season that promised much after World Cup bronze in Poland five weeks ago in a crew that included 2007 world quads bronze medallists Simon Jones and Rob Williams.

With Alisdair Leighton-Crawford also on board, Beechey and Co narrowly lost out in the Henley quad sculls final to a heavier Californian crew at the start of the month and they were determined to bounce back.

But they could not find the form of their Poland performance and struggled to third in the heat in Linz before missing out in the repechage.

Needing to finish in the top four to make Saturday’s final, strokeman Beechey drove his crew into an early lead, going through 500 metres a canvas up on the Czech Republic, with Turkey four feet back in third, Germany a fraction back in fourth and the US a length back on the Brits.

They still led narrowly from the Czechs at 1,000m and looked to have one foot in the final with a half-length lead on Germany in third and more on the Turks and Americans. GB’s front-running tactic of spending some of their energy early was based on killing some of their rivals off.

But when all four attacked in the third quarter, they had no petrol left in the tank.

The Czechs came past first, followed by the Germans and Americans and, by 1,500m, GB were two feet down on the Turks and heading out.

They lifted the rating to try and get back into the final frame but, despite only a length covering the whole field on the line, GB missed out in fifth, half-a-length off the vital fourth slot taken by Turkey.

The Czechs won in six minutes 00.42 seconds, followed by the US and Germany with GB crossing in 6.03.05.

Club-mates Claire Crozier and Malin Eriksson hope for better luck when the pair race for England at the Home Countries Regatta in Cardiff on Saturday, while Worcester’s Jo Lyons goes for Wales in the double and quad scull.