Great Britain lost their vice-like grip on the men's European 4x400m relay title as France took the gold in Gothenburg.
The British had won the event for the last five championships but could only finish second on this occasion.
Rob Tobin gave Britain a fine start, but Rhys Williams dropped back to third in the second leg.
Graham Hedman kept GB in medal contention but Tim Benjamin, an individual finalist here, had plenty to do on the anchor leg.
It was a good effort from Benjamin but France's Marc Raquil - the gold medallist from the individual event - had too much for him as the French won in 3mins 01.10secs.
However, the Welshman did overhaul Poland in the closing strides to clinch Britain's fifth medal of the final day.
They finished in 3.01.63 - a tenth of a second ahead of the Poles.
Benjamin said: "When I started my finish, I saw the Polish guy was looking tired, so I increased my speed and was sure the silver would come to us. But gold was our aim.''
Ireland's team of Paul McKee, Brian Doyle, David Gillick and David McCarthy were last, clocking a time of 3:05.57.
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