Hitchon disappointed after seventh place finish in the women’s hammer final

SOPHIE Hitchon tried but failed to hide her disappointment after missing her medal target at the World Championships in London.

Twelve months on from the smile that lit up Rio, where she won a breakthrough Olympic bronze in the women’s hammer final, cheers were replaced by tears.

Her best effort of 72.67m ranked her seventh in a high-quality final won by Poland’s double Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk, with China’s Zheng Wang and another Polish thrower, Malwina Kopron, completing the podium.

Hitchon, 26, admitted in the build-up to these Championships that her preparations had not been ideal, while refusing to elaborate on the exact reasons why.

But she still believed she could become the first British thrower to medal at these championships since Fatima Whitbread won javelin gold in Rome 30 years ago.

She had made the final with one impressive qualifying throw but she still would have needed to improve her 74.54m personal best, which won her Olympic bronze, to make the medals.

“I think I showed in qualification that I was in better shape than that,” she said. “I just couldn’t quite find my rhythm. The result was not what I wanted and I’m just sorry I couldn’t produce something better for that crowd.

“I didn’t feel extra pressure because of the Olympics, I put enough pressure on myself for a result and I didn’t do what I needed.

“I didn’t come in here thinking I’m going to win a medal just because I won a medal last year, because it doesn’t work like that.

“I know I’m capable of more than that and I’m certainly up for trying. I’ll definitely be beating myself up about this for a while, that’s just part of my personality.

“Perhaps other athletes can hide it but I just can’t. I felt like I was in better shape and that’s why I’m just so gutted.”

Elsewhere, Danny Talbot is determined to use his confidence to his advantage after booking his spot in the 200m semi-finals.

Talbot set a new personal best in the heats on Monday, easing across the line in a time of 20.16 seconds.

“I’m very grateful to be in the position that I am, this is certainly the best season I’ve ever had and to be able to have that going into a World Championships is something you can only dream of.

“It’s not over yet. I try to stay in the positive as much as possible. My next focus is the semi-finals and I’m planning on winning that, and then we’ll go from there.”

Meghan Beesley will also appear in a World Championships semi-final after she progressed through to the next round of the 400m hurdles.

Beesley, a late addition to the British Athletics squad for the championships, crossed the line in 56.41 seconds, her time seeing her through as a fastest qualifier despite finishing sixth in her heat.