Australia has nabbed a silver medal in the men's quadruple sculls, a first on day six of the Rio Games.

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The team — made up of Karsten Forsterling, Alexander Belonogoff, Cameron Girdlestone and James McRae — were favourites for the gold medal, but missed out to Germany who defended their London 2012 title.

The Australians qualified a boat in the quads for Australia after finishing second at last year's World Championships.

The event was originally scheduled for day five of the Games but was postponed due to rough weather conditions.

The German crew of Philip Wende, Lauritz Schoof, Karl Schulze and Hans Gruhne led from the start on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. They finished 1.15 seconds ahead of the Australians.

Estonia scored bronze.

Men's four into final

Meanwhile the Australian men's four are into the Olympic rowing final after winning their semi-final.

The Australians blitzed the field, leading from start to finish to win by more than three seconds and book a place in Friday's medal race.

Great Britain, who have won every gold medal in the event since 2000, won the other semi-final but the Australians were more than five seconds faster.

The men's pair with Spencer Turrin and Alexander Lloyd made it to their final but missed out on a medal position, finishing last. Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of Nez Zealand took gold.

The women's eight, who were late inclusions in the field following the disqualification of Russia, missed the medal race after finishing last in their repechage.

Australia's Alexander Belonogoff, Karsten Forsterling, Cameron Girdlestone and James Mcrae are presented silver for the men's quad sculls. ( AFP: Jeff Pachoud )

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