• European Indoor Championships

Angry Chambers crashes out of European Indoors

Dwain Chambers was a long way down on his season-best time of 6.58s © AP

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Dwain Chambers crashed out in the heats of the 60m at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg on Friday.

The 34-year-old could only manage fifth position after posting a time of 6.78s, with the top four making it through.

Britain's Chambers did not take the situation lightly, reacting angrily by throwing his vest as he stormed straight through the mixed zone, refusing to talk to the press.

Chambers' season-best was 6.58s, but his time in Gothenburg was not even quick enough to secure a fastest loser spot. He had previously expressed a belief that he should not compete at the competition if he was not in top form, having missed the trials with a back injury.

There was some good news for British athletes though, with former world junior 100m champion Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Dasaolu progressing by registering times of 6.65s and 6.62s.

Holly Bleasdale encountered few problems as she cleared 4.56m to reach the pole vault final. "I was really nervous coming into it," Bleasdale said. "I handled it pretty well. I'm really happy. I couldn't have asked for much more."

It was rather more dicey for Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz, who failed three times when attempting a height of 2.28m in the high jump. Grabarz eventually scraped into the final, where he will know he needs a dramatic improvement.

"I've just found out I've made the final and I was surprised," he told the BBC. "It's a great track to jump on and I just ran too fast. The jumps I did jump I cleared by a huge distance. I've just got to realise I don't have to try hard to clear heights like that. That's as close as it comes to messing it right up."

Team captain Jenny Meadows made safe progress in the women's 800m semi-finals, crossing the line third in a time of 2:02.88. "I think I'm better in a faster pace so I'm really looking forward to the pace stepping up," she said. "If I don't go off in a fast pace in the first 200m, I lose the best bit about me."

In the men's 800m, Michael Rimmer surprisingly missed out on the final despite finishing his heat in third place. A time of 1:51.04 was not good enough, although Mukhtar Mohammed (1:49.43) and Joe Thomas (1:51.11) did advance.

Medal hopes look strong for Perri Shakes-Drayton, who posted the fastest qualifying time (51.50) in the women's 400m, which also saw Eilidh Child and Shana Cox advance to the semi-finals.

The men also put on a strong showing with Nigel Levine (46.68), Michael Bingham (46.92) and Richard Strachan (46.96) moving on to the semis, while in the long jump Shara Proctor booked a spot in the final, registering 6.61m with her first leap. Yamile Aldama was another to advance with a leap of 13.92m in the triple jump.

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