BRITISH No 1 javelin thrower Goldie Sayers failed to qualify for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Many expected the Ely-based athlete to win a place on the podium after producing the best form of her life this season. But in searing heat and humid

BRITISH No 1 javelin thrower Goldie Sayers failed to qualify for the final of the World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Many expected the Ely-based athlete to win a place on the podium after producing the best form of her life this season.

But in searing heat and humidity she struggled to reach 57.23m - almost eight metres down on her season's best.

She said afterwards: "I feel exhausted. My legs were so dead and I couldn't attack the line. I did not have it in my legs at all.

"I couldn't sleep a wink the night before and I don't know if that had something to do with it.

"I feel that I belong in the final with the way I have been throwing all year, but it would have taken a miracle to be in it."

Sayers is ranked fourth in the world.

She set a new British record in May when she threw 65.05m and claimed the scalps of last year's world No .1 and No.2, Barbara Spotakova and Steffi Nerius, when she won the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Glasgow in June.

But she again failed to produce on the world stage, having finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games and 12th - and last - in the final of the European Championships in Gothenburg last year.