Team GB finished 12th in the two-man bobsleigh after brakeman Taylor Lawrence withdrew from the final two runs and was replaced by Leon Greenwood.
A statement from Team GB said that Lawrence, who missed several World Cup races last season because of a calf injury, sat out the race as a “precautionary measure” in preparation for the four-man event that begins later this week.
Greenwood, making his Olympic debut, and pilot Brad Hall clocked 55.72 seconds and 56.17secs to give them a combined overall time of 3:43:43.
It was a disappointing showing from Hall, who is GB’s most decorated men’s bobsleigh pilot in World Cup history with 30 race medals.
“It wasn’t plan A but with Leon [Greenwood] coming in last minute, we wanted to keep Taylor [Lawrence] safe, ready for the four-man,” Hall told BBC Sport.
“We knew we were out of contention for the two-man so we just used it as extra training runs for the four-man.”
It was a German clean sweep on the podium as Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer won gold while legendary pilot Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller took silver with Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller bronze.
The four-man event begins on Saturday with the medal-deciding runs on Sunday.