John Mayock tonight suffered disappointment in the 5,000metres when he failed to qualify for Saturday’s final.
The 33-year-old Yorkshireman, who has stepped up from the 1,500m, clocked 13 minutes 26.81 seconds to finish 10th in the first semi-final which contained big guns Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who won the race in 13mins 21.16 secs.
With the first five from each semi-final qualifying, along with the five fastest losers, Mayock missed out on a first Olympic 5,000m final appearance.
”It was obviously very tough,” said Mayock.
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”Before the race, to have all those top guys in the first semi-final, I thought, ‘Oh no’.
”I was slowest of the 18 in my heat going into it - the event has moved on now and there is no real room for a European athlete to be in these races.”
Ireland’s Alistair Cragg did make it into the final as a fast loser, however, having finished three places ahead of Mayock in 13:23.01.