Sprint star again out of luck in London bid

France’s Christophe Lemaitre retained his European 100m title as Britain’s Harry Aikines-Aryeetey admitted his slim chance of an individual Olympic place was over.

Lemaitre maintained his concentration during a bizarre race which featured a yellow card, one false start and only five finishers, clocking 10.09secs to edge out compatriot Jimmy Vicaut (10.12secs), with Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure claiming bronze.

Aikines-Aryeetey finished fourth in 10.31secs , but suffered a hamstring injury after 40m and will not have done enough to overhaul Dwain Chambers and James Dasaolu for the discretionary places in the British team alongside teenager Adam Gemili.

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“I am massively upset,” said Aikines-Aryeetey, 23. “When I won the World Youths in 2005 the first question I got asked was ‘Are you aiming to be there (London)?’ And I thought ‘Ooh, I wouldn’t mind that,’ so every day since then I’ve been dreaming about being there.

“But this year has just been terrible to me after last year being so good, just missing out on a world final by one spot.”

There was also a fourth place for Julia Bleasdale in the women’s 5,000m with a huge personal best.

Rhys Williams and Nathan Woodward qualified for the final of the 400m hurdles to ensure their battle for Olympic selection will be decided in the Olympic Stadium tonight.

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Another Olympic battle between British athletes could become clearer in the women’s 800m final tonight, with Lynsey Sharp and Jemma Simpson both through.

Jenny Meadows, who won bronze in the 800m at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, had hoped to prove her fitness and even win a medal in Helsinki, but withdrew before the semi-finals after suffering a reaction to her Achilles injury on the flight to Finland.

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