Disappointing weekend for town’s athletes...
ANDREW Pozzi was left wondering what might have been after missing out on qualification for the final at the World Championships.
The 110m hurdler cruised through his heat on Sunday afternoon, before returning to action in the evening session and looked set to take his place on the start-line for Monday’s final showdown.
But a clipped hurdle in the final 20m left him reeling, and eventually missing out on a place in the last eight by just a hundredth of a second.
“It’s tough missing by that fraction. I think the times were very fast to make a world final, but it’s nothing out of my capability, so it’s obviously frustrating when it’s close, but at the same time I should’ve been better and I wasn’t,” said the 25-year-old.
“There’s only so long you can take silver linings from things like this. I’ve been running fast enough this season with the times that made it to the final.
“So I think for this I’m just taking away that I didn’t do what I could or should have done.
“Undoubtedly things will improve, but I was ready to make the final tonight and that’s the bottom line.”
Pozzi was not the only Loughborough athlete to miss out at the London Stadium on Sunday.
And while his 13.28s clocking fell short by the narrowest of margins, it was a similar story for David Omoregie in the 110m hurdle heats.
The Welshman stopped the clock in 13.59s in his race, missing out on a fastest qualifier spot by just 0.03s.
Omoregie was not too downhearted by the result, though, and hopes to experience the thrill of a global championships again in years to come. “It was just a bit messy in that race,” he said. “It was amazing to race in a home championships. Ever since missing out on Rio it had been my goal to come here and make the team.
“Stepping out on the track and seeing all the crowd was amazing and having them all behind me was great.
“Overall these last three weeks have been an amazing experience for me.”
Elsewhere, it was disappointment for Martyn Rooney, after he failed to make it out of the 400m heats.
Rooney, 2016 European champion over the distance, clocked a time of 45.75 seconds, just shy of the result needed to seal a berth in the semi-finals.
But it won’t be the last the crowd sees of the 30-year-old at these championships, with another opportunity for success coming up in the 4x400m relay later in the week.
“That was tough. It is the World Championships so every round is going to be tough,” he said.
“I really wanted to go out there and enjoy the experience. I had a nice pacemaker in LaShawn Merritt on the outside of me, but it would have been nice to have held onto him a bit more.
“I’m an honest guy, and this is where I’m at. I’ve maybe got two or three tenths more in me but that’s it. But if that means I’m ready for the relay, then that’s all that matters.”
There was more disappointment for Loughborough athletes with Emily Diamond, Guy Learmonth, Anyika Onuora and Asha Philip all failing to progress from their respective races.
Diamond and Onuora exited in the heats of the 400m while Learmonth was one place short of a spot in the 800m final.
But for Philip, a time of 11.19s was not the end of her championship, as she will return on Friday for the 4x100m relay heats.
“I’m going to take that with a pinch of salt because I’ve had such a fantastic year,” she said. “I just haven’t followed through with the hundred, it’s just taking a little bit more time than expected.
“We’ve got the relays left though, so I’m not going to bow my head just yet because I want to be confident and perform really well for the girls and the team and to back up Rio.”