Sam Townsend (Reading) and Pete Lambert (Henley) are both members of the men’s quadruple sculls crew that won bronze at the World Championships in Korea last year, and a silver medal at the recent European Championships in Belgrade.

The pair, along with Graeme Thomas and Charles Cousins, produced a superb second-half performance in the final on Sunday where they lined up against Olympic champions Germany, who set the pace in the first 1,000m.

The GB crew were content to let Germany take the lead early on, but then began to surge just before the 1,500m mark to draw level with the leaders.

The effort was etched on the British faces in the boat, but it paid off as the quartet pushed past Germany and powered on to win by almost a length in 5:44.40.

Lambert said: “We could hear Germany were having to work hard to stay in front and that gave us the confidence that we could do it.”

Windsor resident Oliver Cook and Will Satch (Henley) were part of the men’s eight which brought home a bronze medal from Belgrade, but there were several changes to the boat for the racing in Aiguebelette.

Alan Sinclair, Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnel, Matt Langridge and cox Henry Fieldman all came into the eight, and the crew produced a herculean effort in the final to hold off Belarus and France to take silver in 5:43.15. A strong American crew took the gold medal.

Jono Clegg (Maidenhead) raced with Sam Scrimgeour in the lightweight men’s pair having won a silver medal at the European Championships.

The British boat had a sliver of a lead at the halfway mark with all six crews in medal contention, but in the final 500m the Czechs, French and Argentines surged away in a three-boat battle, with Scrimgeour and Clegg in fourth place.

Newcomer Jack Beaumont (Maidenhead) raced in a second men’s double scull boat with Angus Groom (The Leander Club) and won the ‘C’ final in 6:23.47 on Saturday.

Another newcomer in the squad was last year’s U23 World Rowing Champion Ellie Piggott (Henley). She partnered Charlotte Taylor in a second lightweight women’s double scull boat.

Taylor made her international debut in Serbia, but the inexperienced duo produced a stunning late surge past Germany and Sweden to take a silver medal in their World Cup bow.