The difference between Munich three weeks ago and Lucerne this afternoon was stark. Then, the sun shone on Great Britain as they won the opening World Cup regatta of this Olympic season with five gold medals and two silvers. Today, in choppy conditions and under persistent drizzle – plus the challenge of some boats that weren’t in Munich – the second World Cup harder going.

There will be eight British crews in the 14 finals on Sunday but only three of them got there by winning their semi-final. The biggest disappointment was the collapse of the men’s coxless four in the final quarter of their race to miss out on qualifying.

It may be a second-string crew, with Andrew Triggs-Hodge, the stroke, and Tom James being rested with niggling injuries, but the way in which their replacements failed to control a race they were winning after 1,500 metres will be concerning for the coaches.

The bare statistics show that Britain were the fastest over the first 500 metres, second-fastest over the second, third-fastest over the third and fourth-fastest in the finishing stretch. If it was an improved showing on their heat, which they never led, they had nothing in the tank when attacked in the final 500 by France and New Zealand, who had been slugging it out for the third and final qualifying place barely a minute from the line.

The distance between third place - and a spot in the final - and fourth was 0.23sec. The four can still gain a World Cup point for Britain if they win Sunday’s B final, but that is some fall from a gold medal in Munich.

David Tanner, the Great Britain performance director, urged caution. “Nothing has happened to affect our Olympic chances,” he said. “It is very hard to change a stroke man and realistically it was always going to be a big call here, but they will take away some important lessons.” He added that Hodge and James should be fit for the final World Cup regatta in Poznan next month but they would not be risked if there were any doubts.

The failure of the women’s single scull, the women’s pair, and the lightweight women’s double to qualify was more predictable, but it is disappointing that the new pairing of Laura Greenhalgh and Helen Casey in the last could not break into the top three. Also, the women’s eight only squeaked into their final by 0.42sec.

At least Alan Campbell, the winner in the single scull in Munich, looked unflustered in winning his semi-final today. The rower from Coleraine, Northern Ireland, had the easier draw but still had to contend with Olaf Tufte, the Olympic champion from Norway. Making the fast start that had been his strategy three weeks ago, Campbell broke his rival by the halfway stage and was able to ease back on his way to a three-second win.

It promises to be a gripping final, with Mahe Drysdale, Campbell’s close friend and the three-times world champion from New Zealand, looking to announce himself on the World Cup season after choosing to miss Munich. Drysdale was pushed every inch of the way down the course by Ondrej Synek, the Czech who came second in Munich to Campbell.

Steve Rowbotham and Matt Wells will hope to keep up their winning streak from Munich after qualifying directly for the final of the double scull by winning Friday’s heat. They will come under competition from New Zealand, Slovenia and China.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter also look to be the ones to beat in the lightweight double. The British crew had New Zealand on their tail for the whole race but controlled the tempo perfectly to ease across the line.

The women’s double will also be hoping for a medal, but bronze may be the best they can aim for as China had the fastest two qualifying times, as they did in winning gold and silver in Munich.

Meanwhile, it promises to be as close a final in the men’s lightweight four as ever. Beaten into second place by less than a second in Munich, the British crew, world champions last year in a spread finish, came second in their semi-final to France but only by 0.05sec, with Ireland less than a second farther back in third.

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