Jessica Judd, the next great hope of British middle-distance running, admitted she “gave it her all” after crashing out in her heat of the 800m this morning.
The 18-year-old from Canvey Island lacked any sort of speed coming into the home straight and finished in fifth place.
“I apologise to my family for them getting up early to watch that but I did my best,” said Judd, who had not been expected to win a medal in the event. “It just didn’t go how I wanted. The first 600 was fine and then I thought I really need to turn it on in the home straight and there was just nothing there.
“I’m so disappointed but I gave it my all. I left nothing on the track, it’s just my all wasn’t good enough today.”
Judd’s build-up had been hampered by injury — she ruptured a tendon in her calf and then suffered a hip problem at the warm-up camp in Barcelona.
The other two Britons selected for the event, Marilyn Okoro and Laura Muir, fared much better. Okoro ran a season’s best and Muir a personal best as they finished second in their respective heats to qualify for the semi-finals.
Results were also mixed in the women’s 200m heats. Both Anyika Onuora and Jodie Williams were fourth in their respective heats but Onuora will play no further part following her time of 23.36seconds, while Williams snuck through as the fastest loser with a time of 23s.
