Chris Mears and Nick Robinson-Baker have failed to add to Great Britain's medal tally at the European Diving Championships.
The three-metre synchro pairing had to be content with fifth after failing to reproduce their best at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Centre in Eindhoven.
A lifetime-best points score of 436.74 last time out at the final World Series leg in Mexico had them dreaming of a medal this week, however their score of 390.84 was not enough in world-class company.
"It just wasn't our day today," Robinson-Baker told Press Association Sport.
"We felt confident after Mexico and we've showed that we are good enough. We were going well until the fifth dive and then a few errors cost us. The Olympics are in about 75 days - we're working towards that one."
The Britons' performance in Tijuana, when they were only beaten by the all-conquering Chinese, has catapulted them into Olympic calculations.
The Eindhoven result dented their bid - a repeat of their best score would have claimed second behind world silver medallists Russia - and Mears warned they could not rest on the Mexico performance.
"That World Series dive was our best and we have to build on that," Mears said. "That's what I'm thinking about when I go to bed at night - knowing we can do that. We'll keep working hard and if we do that there's a better chance it will happen at the Olympics."
They must first negotiate next month's Olympic trials before confirming their London place, although only an unexpected result would deny them a ticket to the Olympic Aquatics Centre.
The future of British diving was given another boost when teenagers Alicia Blagg and Rhea Gayle competed in the women's one-metre springboard final. Blagg, 15, had been third after two dives but slipped down to 11th, a place below Gayle, as Sweden's Anna Lindberg claimed her fourth European crown.