Chris Mears and Jack Laugher have narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the men's 3m synchro at the World Diving Series in Beijing.
The pair, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, marked their debut at the season-opening competition with a total score of 402.12, just shy of the 406.29 of Germany's Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding.
Gold went to China's Cao Yuan and Qin Kai, capping a day in which the host nation topped the podium in all four synchro events.
Russia's Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilia Zakharov, meanwhile, could not retain their title from 2014 but were still comfortably ahead of the chasing pack to take silver.
Laugher will now go on to compete as an individual in tomorrow's 3m springboard event.
Results in full:
1. Cao Yuan, Qin Kai (CHN) - 442.41
2. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilia Zakharov (RUS) - 417.30
3. Stephan Feck, Patrick Hausding (GER) - 406.29
4. Jack Laugher, Chris Mears (GBR) - 402.12
5. Jahir Ocampo, Rommel Pacheco (MEX) - 368.10
6. Dwight Dumais, Troy Dumais (USA) - 366.78
7. Philippe Gagne, Francois Imbeau-Dulac (CAN) - 339.03
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears round-by-round:
Dive 1: Back Dive Pike (DD 2.0) - 46.20
Dive 2: Reverse Dive Pike (DD 2.0) - 46.80
Dive 3: Forward 2-1/2 Somersault 2 Twist Pike (DD 3.4) - 75.48
Dive 4: Inward 3-1/2 Somersault Tuck (DD 3.4) - 75.48
Dive 5: Reverse 2-1/2 Somersault 1-1/2 Twist Pike (DD 3.3) - 77.22
Dive 6: Forward 4-1/2 Somersault Tuck (DD 3.8) - 80.94
Neil Wilkes
