Andy Pozzi lost his 60 metres hurdles title in the European Indoor Championships after finishing sixth in the final in Glasgow.
The world indoor champion was second-fastest in the semi-finals as he comfortably qualified in 7.61 seconds despite being told earlier in the year he would miss the indoor season after suffering a thigh problem.
But the Stratford-upon-Avon athlete found the final a step too far as he finished eight-hundredths of a second behind Cypriot winner Milan Trajkovic in 7.68.
Photo finish. #Glasgow2019 pic.twitter.com/CXNAHF4JZg — Glasgow 2019 Athletics (@Glasgow2019) March 3, 2019
"I'm really, really disappointed because I really felt I could win that race," Pozzi said.
"Through the rounds it has been so easy and steady and I haven't really put much speed into that so I knew I could come in and run a quick time. The problem for me is that I haven't been able to rehearse at top speed – I've missed some training and some racing so as soon as I put into top speed, my timing was wrong and actually from the first step.
"I came out, got a great start but I was way too long to hurdle one and after that took too long to recover.
"I'm really angry because given the prep, I felt like I deserved to win, I felt like I'd been able to do it and getting into the shape to win was going to be the problem. But I actually managed that.
"However, sadly it didn't happen. It's disappointing to feel like I had something I gave away."
Great Britain's Tim Duckworth is in second spot ahead of the final heptathlon event.
Duckworth lost his overnight lead to Spaniard Jorge Urena after finishing third in his heat in the 60m hurdles. Urena was the only competitor to break the eight-second mark in 7.78. Duckworth set the fourth-fastest time overall with 8.16.
The pair both jumped 5m flat in the pole vault to finish in fifth and sixth place as Urena stayed just six points clear but with a 16-second advantage over Duckworth in personal bests in the final event, the 1000m.
With 10 points available per second, Duckworth is 55 points clear of Russian Ilya Shkurenyov, who is competing as a neutral, and 68 clear of Sweden's Fredrik Samuelsson.
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