Dartford's Adam Gemili fails to qualify from heats in 200m at World Athletics Championships in Oregon
08:54, 19 July 2022
updated: 07:32, 22 July 2022
Dartford sprinter Adam Gemili suffered a first-round exit in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships on Monday.
The Blackheath & Bromley Harriers runner could only manage fourth place for Great Britain in heat six in Oregon, with his time of 20.60sec a tenth of a second off the top-three qualifying slots.
Italy's Filipo Tortu won the heat in 20.18 ahead of Gabon's Guy Gorra, with Australia's Calab Law beating Gemili to the final qualifying place.
Gemili's failure to qualify comes days after his coach Rana Reider, who is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, which he denies, was spoken to by police after gaining access to the athletes' warm-up area without official accreditation.
Gemili suggested press coverage had affected his performance, however he later apologised on social media.
"There's been a lot of bad press around my set-up and me and it's been relentless," he told the BBC. "Every week there's been something and it's just taken its toll, to be honest.
"I'm a lot better than 20.60, I've shown that before. Just mentally [it's been] very, very tough this year to keep my focus.
"It's tough but there's no excuses - I just wasn't good enough today. That's a shame for me, I'm in a lot better shape than that, I just couldn't show it, which is annoying.
"Luckily I can reset, hopefully for the relay or Commonwealth Games, but not getting out of the heats in a World Championships - I'm a lot better than that."
Clarifying his comments on Twitter, Gemili added: "Apologies for my performance out there. No excuse other than I wasn't good enough. The blame is on me. I also shouldn't have made comments about the press when interviewed. I do understand they have a job to do but it's been a lot to deal [with] and [I] hope you can understand that."
Meanwhile, Gemili's Blackheath & Bromley clubmate, Dina Asher-Smith, missed out on a medal in the women's 100m final.
Asher-Smith, a silver medallist in Doha three years ago, was fourth as she equalled her British record of 10.83. She runs in the 200m semi-final just after midnight Wednesday UK time.
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