Eilidh Child might have finished fifth in her maiden major outdoor championship final but she couldn’t help but think that she could have had so much more to celebrate in Moscow.
The 26-year-old paid the price for a third-place finish in her semi-final as she was stuck out in lane eight for the 400m hurdles finals at the World Athletics Championships.
Child and fellow British 400m hurdler Perri Shakes-Drayton were much fancied to challenge the podium positions in Russia having both made relatively easy progress through the rounds.
But Child struggled with her stride pattern down the back straight finishing fifth in 54.86seconds while Shakes-Drayton was seventh after suffering from an unexpected knee problem.
“It feels a bit bittersweet just now,” she said. “If you had told me I would have finished fifth in the worlds then I would have taken it but that was not my best race.
“I didn’t execute it that well and seeing what got medals I think I could have been up there. But it’s the third race in four days and sometimes the legs don’t have it in them.
“So I’m happy to have come fifth and hopefully I can get on the podium next time. I lost my stride a bit on the back straight and felt I was trying to fight back the whole way.
“In the heats and semi-finals had been the home straight I struggled with. So if I can just combine the two it would be a better race.”
Hungary’s Zuzana Hejnova capped off a remarkable unbeaten season with gold while Shakes-Drayton went for a scan to figure out what is wrong with her knee.
“In the race it felt like my knee was wobbling and doing something it should not have been doing,” she said. “I am gutted obviously.
“I was doing so well and feeling so good but I was just not in that race. It happened before I clattered into the hurdle, I was like ‘Oh God, please hold on’ because I was still pushing.”
On a night of contrasting fortunes, there was better news for Britain’s men’s 4x400m relay quartet, who progressed through to the final in a season’s best time of 3:00.50minutes.
Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, Jamie Bowie and Martyn Rooney were the chosen four for the heats, finishing second to Jamaica, however there will be changes with Nigel Levine to come in.
Elsewhere, Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz had to settle for eighth in the high jump final as Bohdan Bondarenko jumped a championship record of 2.41m for gold.
Grabarz had three failures at 2.32m and said: “That was a pretty cool competition to be honest. I think my personal best would’ve come in about fifth.
“It’s an incredible standard and it’s not been a fantastic season for me anyway, so eighth place is obviously disappointing for me but at the end of the day I’ll take it.
“I’m not jumping over the moon or anything but it’s eighth place in a World Championship final and with the run in I’ve had it’s acceptable.”
European under-23 champion Jodie Williams bowed out in the semi-finals of the 200m after finishing seventh in her semi-final in a time of 23.31.
And world silver medallist from Daegu in 2011 Hannah England just missed out on a second successive global podium finish after placing fourth in the 1500m final.
“Coming fourth in the world is a very good achievement, especially after everything that happened last year,” she said. “It’s just hard to watch the other girls get a lap of honour – that is obviously where I want to be.”
© Sportsbeat 2013