The 400m hurdles star, who made Guernsey history at Birmingham 2022 with the island’s first-ever Commonwealth Games track and field medal, was unable to back that up and must now focus on the fast-approaching ‘Europeans’.
A strong start to his Friday night final at Scotstoun Stadium fizzled out when he knocked the sixth hurdle – positioned at 220m – with his trail leg and stumbled, after which he battled on but finished adrift of the podium in 50.24sec.
‘Just didn’t happen today,’ Chalmers told his supportive fanbase afterwards.
‘Tried and failed. Will try to bounce back. Thank you everyone for all the support.’
The 26-year-old had lined up for the final in lane four with clear potential of improving on his previous bronze.
But the pre-race favourite, Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel, ultimately won in 48.47 as up-and-coming English athlete Jake Minshull stole the British bragging rights with a silver and 48.99 clocking.
Jamaica’s Assinie Wilson completed the podium in 49.22.
Chalmers had won his heat on Wednesday in commanding fashion ahead of Wilson, easing over the line but still posting 48.92, and the early exit of Botswana’s favourably-ranked Kemorena Tisang showed that simply qualifying was no mean feat.
He was also confirmed last week as one of Great Britain’s three male 400m hurdlers for the ‘home’ European Championships, unfolding at his happy hunting ground of Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium from 10 to 16 August.
In Friday morning’s long jump qualifying round, Abi Galpin produced her second-best ever performance to come within 30cm of making the final.
Galpin opened with a 5.94m leap – which would have been an Island record if jumped only two weeks earlier – but could not improve on that further or challenge her very recent best of 6.18m.
She finished ranked 17th overall.
You need to be logged in to comment.