NATHAN Douglas said it was bittersweet to win a silver medal at the British Championships as he missed out on automatic selection for Doha, writes STUART WEIR.

The Oxford City AC triple jumper took second with a leap of 16.88m in Birmingham as Ben Williams landed gold with 17.27.

Douglas was agonisingly seven centimetres short of the IAAF World Championships qualifying standard and was left with mixed emotions after claiming an 18th national medal.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” said the 36-year-old.

“It wasn’t bad – 16.88 is OK, but obviously I needed 16.95 to go to the World Championships.

“I am disappointed not to have done that, because I know I am capable of it.

“The last jump was the one that could have got it, but I slightly mistimed and couldn’t control the step.”

Douglas is now already turning his attention to next March’s World Indoor Championships in March.

He said: “I’ll have a month off now which will hopefully lead to a good block of training and then I’ll have an advantage for next year.

“Because Doha is so late, there isn’t much time for an indoor season, so I can target the World Indoor Championships.”

City teammate Hannah England thinks she may have competed in her last national championships.

The 32-year-old finished sixth in the 1,500m final – just half a second off third.

She said: “This will probably be my last British Championships and I would have loved to have ended with a podium finish.

“I thought the bronze was up for grabs and I gave it my best shot.”

Alice Hopkins excelled in the long jump, finishing fifth with a personal best of 6.52.

“I was super-happy with that,” said the 20-year-old, who also competes for City.

“At one stage I was third and wondered if I could hang on for a medal, but I am pleased with the outcome.”

Radley AC’s Kathryn Woodcock was frustrated by her effort of 47.02m as she came sixth in the discus.

The 22-year-old said: “I am a bit disappointed – I wanted more.

“But considering the week I have just had, I was happy to get in the top eight.”

There were also two Radley athletes in the 800m heats, with Emma Haley running a season’s best of 2mins 10.99secs for sixth and Tara Kafke seventh.

Abingdon AC’s Tiffany Cox was seventh in her 100m heat, while clubmate Ben Claridge was also seventh in his 400m equivalent.

Former Banbury Harrier Kyle Ennis competed in the 100m and 200m, finishing third and fourth respectively in the preliminary rounds.