Sotherton medal hopes fade

Sotherton began the day in bronze medal position but could only record a best of 6.33 metres in the long jump, traditionally one of her strongest events.

That left the 31-year-old, bronze medallist in Athens in 2004, in fifth place, 154 points off the lead held by Ukraine's Nataliia Dobrynska, who recorded the best jump of the competition with a personal best of 6.63m.

Only the javelin and 800m remain and, although the 800m is one of Sotherton's strongest events, her javelin is far and away her weakest and has cost her dearly in previous championships.

Overnight leader Hyleas Fountain was in danger of crashing out of contention when she failed to record a distance with her first two attempts in the long jump, but the American managed 6.38m in the final round to lie second.

Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska was in the same position but jumped 6.48m in the final round to lie third despite taking off well behind the board.

Sotherton jumped 6.21m in the first round but was not impressed and went straight over to coach Aston Moore in the stands to find out what was going wrong.

Her second round of 6.33m was a slight improvement but was still well down on her personal best of 6.68m.

In the women's 400m, world champion Christine Ohuruogu and silver medallist Nicola Sanders advanced to Sunday's semi-finals along with team-mate Lee McConnell after finishing first, second and third in their respective heats.

In the women's 100m, Britain's Jeanette Kwakye and Montell Douglas advanced to the second round but team-mate Laura Turner missed out. Kwakye and Douglas were second in their heats in 11.30 and 11.36 respectively, but Turner could only finish fourth in her heat in 11.65 and failed to advance as one of the 10 fastest losers.