Duckworth just misses out on a medal at Europeans
Great Britain’s Tim Duckworth missed out on a medal in the decathlon at the European Championships as he slipped off the podium at the last.
The 22-year-old Americanborn athlete came fifth at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Wednesday with 8,160 points.
Duckworth, who held a 70-point lead going into the final two events, dropped to second after throwing 54.70 metres in the javelin and slipped back further after coming 17th in four minutes 58.28 seconds in the 1500m.
Both were his weakest events as Germany’s Arthur Abele took the title but the Californian native still claimed a personal best.
Elsewhere, Dan Bramble came seventh in the long jump final after leaping 7.90 metres.
Adam Gemili scraped into the 200m final in the eighth and last qualification spot after running 20.46 seconds, with Nethaneel MitchellBlake fourth fastest in 20.35 seconds.
Gemili said: “It was such an amateur race, like it was my first time running a 200m. It was just terrible and it wasn’t clicking.
“I thought I ran a good bend and I came off the bend and I was like, ‘right, I can just relax now’, and I just took my foot off the gas too much.
“Suddenly everyone started going past me and I was like, ‘Oh my God’.”
Matt Hudson-Smith eased into the 400m final after winning his heat in 44.76 seconds having begun to slow down with around 50 metres left, and he insisted only he can stop him winning gold.
He said: “I came here as number one, only I can stop myself really.”