91Èȱ¬

British champion Alastair Chalmers says he is "absolutely gutted" to have missed out on the final of the men's 400m hurdles at the European Championships.

The 24-year-old from Guernsey set a new personal best as he finished third in his semi-final - with only the top two guaranteed a place in the final.

Chalmers, who was drawn in the outside lane, led for more than 300 metres before being caught by Estonia's Rasmus Maegi and Sweden's Carl Bengtstrom.

His time of 48.76 seconds was the ninth-fastest across the semis, meaning the visibly upset Chalmers missed out on a place in the eight-man final.

The time was also just 0.06 seconds off the qualifying mark needed for the Olympics in Paris this summer.

"I'm absolutely gutted," Chalmers told 91Èȱ¬ Guernsey.

"I've taken a lot of pride in how I ran that race, and running a PB against those kind of athletes was just amazing.

"But to run 48.76 and not make the final is pretty crazy, and being six hundredths off the Olympic standard is cruel as well, so it's pretty difficult."

Going into the Championships, Chalmers said he was "in the form of his life" and his semi-final showed that was the case.

"I absolutely smashed it, I ran the race of my life," he added.

"I did everything I needed to do, especially in that environment [where] so many people fumble under that kind of pressure, and I just somehow always rise to the occasion.

"I was just flying down the back straight, and then around the top bend I knew they weren't close to me and then coming over hurdle eight I was like 'I'm actually winning', but of course I was dying at the same time.

"I couldn't have given any more. It wasn't one of those like 'if I did this, or if I did that', I did everything I could, we're at the top level here and just to get pipped on the line, it's just horrible."