Team GB miss out in Poznan finals

Great Britain were unable to qualify any more boats for the London 2012 Olympics on a disappointing day in the European qualifying event in Poznan.

Only the winners in the final of each discipline qualified, and despite having four shots at it going into the day the GB competitors came up short, with Lani Belcher and Angela Hannah's third place in the K2 500m final the best performance.

Belcher was sixth in the K1 200m final, with Richard Jefferies having earlier finished fifth in his C1 200m semi-final while Jonathan Boyton and Ed Rutherford were sixth in the semis of the K2 1000m.

"We knew it was going to be tough with everybody putting it on the line to claim the last few Olympic places," national high performance coach Brendan Purcell said.

"Our athletes gave their best performances and couldn't have done any more in the conditions.

"We are now looking forward to other members of the squad racing here this weekend in the first World Cup which has an extremely strong field from over 60 nations. It will be useful not only in terms of helping to decide our athlete selection, but to assess just where we are in our Olympic preparations."

Ireland's Andrzej Jezierski just missed out with a second-placed finish in the C1 200m, while compatriot Jennifer Egan was seventh in the K1 500m.

Great Britain has qualified seven athlete places in three boats for the 2012 Olympics - the men's K1 200m, men's K2 200m and the women's K4 500m.

GB can expect a further three 'host nation' places to be awarded in the men's K1 1000m, Men's C1 1000m and the Women's K1 500m, although these are yet to be confirmed.