Lawrence Clarke admitted he was “almost in tears” after having to pull out of last night’s European Championships 110 metres hurdles final through injury, writes Stuart Weir.

The Oxfordshire athlete, who had earlier finished third in his heat to qualify for the final in a time of 13.47secs, tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up and had to withdraw.

“In the warm-up for the final, I strained my hamstring between hurdles,” Clarke explained.

“It is not a tear or anything serious, the doctors are pretty confident that it is a two-or-three-day thing. But if I had run with it, there was the chance it would go bang.

“These things happen. When the doctor said that I had to make up my mind I was pretty much in tears, because it had been my dream to come here as I had never made a European final before.

“I had to sit there, three metres from my lane with my lane empty while one of the scrappiest finals in European history went ahead.

“I am over it now because at the end of the day, I am OK but this has taken away one of the biggest moments of my life.”

The final was won by Russian Sergey Shubenkov in 13.18 with Britain's Will Sharman second.

Oxford's Hannah England competes in the women’s 1500m final at 6.25pm tonight.

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