Commonwealth Games: Lynsey Sharp crashes out in 800m heats

SCOTLAND'S Lynsey Sharp has failed to reach the final of the women's 800m after finishing fourth in her semi-final heat.

There will be no Commonwealth Games medal for Lynsey Sharp this year after she failed to make the 800m final. PICTURE: Getty Images

The silver medallist from Glasgow 2014 and former European champion faded in the home straight and finished behind Emily Tuei of Kenya, Winnie Nanyondo of Uganda and Georgia Griffith of Australia.

With only the top two automatically qualifying for the final, the 27-year-old Scot’s time of 2:01.33 was not enough to secure a fastest loser spot. Both of those came from the first of three semi-finals which was won by Olympic champion Caster Semenya in 1:59.26.

Sharp posted on her Instagram account: “I have worked my ass off the last few months to get myself into the best shape I have ever been in. I threw everything into this.

“I’ve worked harder than I ever have before. Dug deeper. Took risks. Pushed myself out my comfort zone. I was so hungry for this.

But this sport is cut throat. Being in the shape of your life is not enough. You have to be firing on all cylinders.

“It comes down to the smallest of margins and today I didn’t have enough to get it done. It hurts. A lot. But the biggest lessons are learnt from failing. And I needed to learn this lesson.

“I’m disappointed I couldn’t represent Scotland as well as I would have liked but I will put my head down and work even harder to do better next time.”

Alex Bell of England will be the only Home Nations runner in the final after Shelayna Oskan-Clarke suffered a similar fate to Sharp in the second semi, finishing third and falling short of the fourth best time in the first heat.

Elsewhere at the Games overnight, shooter Seonaid McIntosh won Scotland’s 33rd medal as she took bronze in women’s 50m rifle prone.

Diver James Heatly qualified for the final of the 3m springboard final just hours after creating history with his 1m springboard bronze, which saw him become the first Scot to win a Commonwealth medal in the sport since his legendary late grandfather Sir Peter in 1958.

Heatly finished seventh best of the 12 qualifiers for the final with a combined score of 390.05.

Isla Short of Scotland finished a fine fifth in the women’s mountain bike race, which was won imperiously by England’s Annie Last.