Israeli athlete Donald Sanford finished a very creditable fourth in the men's 400-meters at the European Championships in Helsinki on Saturday, finishing just 0.09 seconds short of a medal position.
Sanford, who only received Israeli citizenship this year, came home in 45.91 seconds.
In addition to missing out on a medal, Sanford also didn't make the qualifying time for next month's Olympic Games and will not be joining the rest of the Israeli delegation. After the race, Sanford told Haaretz he was "very sorry" not to have won a medal for his new country and that he won't be given the chance to rectify that in London.
Among other Israelis at Helsinki, Yochai Halevi finished eighth in the final of the men's triple jump with a leap of 16.67 meters. The event was won by Fabrizio Donato of Italy, with a jump of 17.63 meters.
Jillian Schwartz, another American-born Israeli, also had a disappointing day. She finished 11th in the final of the pole vault, with a leap of 4.10 meters, having failed to clear the bar at 4.30 meters. Schwartz, however, has already assured herself a place in the London-bound delegation.
In the men's 10,000-meter steeplechase, Israel's Tasama Moogas finished 18th, at 29:22.03 minutes.
Harting adds Euro gold
Elsewhere at the championships, two-time reigning discus world champion Robert Harting of Germany added the European Championships title to his resume on Saturday, beating Olympic gold medalist Gerd Kanter.
A strong throw of 68.30 meters in the rain and cold gave him a title that had eluded him, meaning only Olympic gold is now missing for the 27-year-old German. Kanter's best effort fell 1.87 meters short.
With driving rain, temperatures of 15 Celsius and few established stars competing, the championships were short on thrilling performances Saturday with only 21,104 fans braving the conditions at Olympic Stadium.
Three days after winning bronze in the 5,000 meters, Kenyan-born Polat Kemboi Arikan of Turkey added gold in the 10,000, leading much of the way and providing the best finishing kick in a slow race. He beat Italian runner Daniele Meucci and Yevgeny Ribakov of Russia.
Turkey had a great day, winning women's gold with Nevin Yanit in the 100-meter hurdles and Gulcan Mingir in the steeplechase.
In the women's 200, Ukraine dominated, with Mariya Ryemyen beating Hrystyna Stuy for gold, leaving defending champion Myriam Soumare of France to settle for bronze.
In the men's 200, it was a Dutch double with Churandy Martina taking gold ahead of Patrick Van Luijk.
In a tight pole vault final containing few real stars, Jirina Ptacnikova of the Czech Republic won with a vault of 4.60 ahead of Martina Strutz of Germany and Nikolia Kiriakopoulou of Greece on count-backs.
Merlene Ottey, 52, anchored the Slovenian 4x100 team but she failed to get her team into the final.
Left with too much to make up on the final straight, Ottey crossed the line in sixth place. Only the top three automatically advanced from the semifinal heat.
Ottey won three world titles as a Jamaican - the 200 twice and one sprint relay - before she moved to Slovenia in 1998.
