OLIVIA Whitlam says it is ‘back to the drawing board’ after missing out on the medals in the World Rowing Championships.

The 25-year-old from Daresbury finished fourth with the Great Britain women’s eight in their final on New Zealand's Lake Karapiro.

They were more than eight seconds behind champions USA.

"We weren't good enough,” said a disappointed Whitlam, who is a member of Agecroft Rowing Club in Salford.

“That is as fast as we could get from ‘a’ to ‘b’. It's back to the drawing board".

GB, who won gold, silver and bronze medals in three World Cup races earlier in the season, dropped behind the pace in the first 500m and struggled to get back into contention.

Fifth at 500m, they pulled back up into fourth at halfway only to slip back again in the final 600m before taking fourth by a narrow margin.

World Rowing Championship

Lake Karapiro, New Zealand

Women's eight final

1 USA 6:12.42

2 Canada 6:16.12

3 Romania 6:18.96

4 Jo Cook/Louisa Reeve/Jess Eddie/Lindsey Maguire/Natasha Page/Vicky Thornley/Olivia Whitlam/Alison Knowles (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:20.84

5 Netherlands 6:20.85

6 China 6:31.86