David Tanner is the model of Kiplingesque reason, a man who treats triumph and disaster as twin impostors. Three weeks ago the Great Britain performance director was urging caution after Britain had an astounding first World Cup in Munich. Yesterday, beside the banks of the Rotsee in Lucerne, he refused to view one bad regatta as a crisis.

To slip from first place with five gold medals and two silvers in Munich to fourth place and only four medals, one gold, in Lucerne could be seen as a collapse, especially as Britain's two flagship boats won one bronze between them. Tanner, however, called it “a very good reality check”.

The biggest surprise was the men's coxless four, for so long the golden boat of British rowing, who failed to qualify for the final, pipped into fourth place in their semi-final by less than a second.

They may have been without their first-choice stroke, Andrew Triggs Hodge, who was withdrawn with a slight back niggle, but a medal of any colour was a minimum aim for the three who won so comfortably in Munich and for Colin Smith, Hodge's replacement, who stroked the eight to a silver three weeks ago.

Having led for three quarters of the semi-final, they faded dramatically in the final 500 metres as the United States, France and New Zealand rowed past them.

“We wanted to show we were capable of leading the field but maybe the energy that was making the boat go fast at the start wasn't used in the most efficient way,” Peter Reed, who rowed in the No3 seat, said. “There was nothing left in the tank at the end.” He added that no blame should be placed on Smith for the crew's failure.

It was the first time in 16 years that a British men's four had not qualified for the final of a leading regatta, although on the previous occasion, at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the crew were behind Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent's pair in the pecking order.

Tanner was relaxed, however. “If I was worried about preserving the boat's place in history, we wouldn't have entered after Hodge was injured,” he said. “It is very hard to change a stroke at short notice.”

He added that while both Hodge and Tom James, the first-choice bow who has missed both regattas with a rib injury, were likely to be fit for the final World Cup regatta in Poznan, Poland, in three weeks' time, they would not be chosen if there was any risk of further injury.

Having failed to qualify, the least that was expected of the four was a win in the B final yesterday morning, which would earn Britain one point towards their regatta tally. Even that was beyond the tired crew, who were beaten in the final stretch, Germany winning by a quarter of a second.

It was the start of a disappointing day, but the men's open and lightweight double sculls deserve praise for the way they rowed. Matt Wells and Steve Rowbotham fought the highly fancied New Zealand crew every inch of the way to come a close second, then Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, the lightweights, won Britain's only gold in style.

It continued a seven-race winning streak for the boat, and Hunter said of the pair who joined forces only last year: “We're getting better and better all the time. Last year we were two individuals, now we're a unit.”

Purchase and Hunter are fast becoming a banker, which the women's quad usually are, but yesterday Katherine Grainger's crew faded after halfway to let China and the United States through.

This was China's regatta. They won five gold medals and pushed Britain into third place in the men's eight to show they have strength in both sexes. Yet China dominated the second World Cup in Amsterdam last year and still came only ninth when it mattered, at the World Championships.

“We'll go away and work on what went wrong and come back stronger,” Frances Houghton, the quad's No3, said. It is a promise that many British crews are making.