Keshorn Walcott finished 16th in the World Athletics Championship men’s javelin qualifying event here in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on Thursday, and did not progress to Saturday’s final.

Walcott had been enjoying one of his best seasons, throwing over 84 metres each time he competed this year, and was expected to easily negotiate the 83.50 automatic qualifying distance. But it was not to be. The best the 2012 Olympic champion could manage at Hayward Field was 78.87m, and he had to settle for eighth spot in Group “A”.

In theory, Walcott could still have qualified. However, there was little likelihood that only four Group “B” throwers would beat his 78.87 effort. The Toco thrower refused to allow himself false expectations.

“No, it’s not possible,” he told the Express. “We have a bunch of other guys in the second group who are actually throwing better than the first group, so it’s not possible.”

Walcott knows his event well. He was beaten by eight men in Group “B”, including defending champion Anderson Peters. The Grenadian produced a huge 89.91m effort to lead all qualifiers into the final. Germany’s Julian Weber threw 87.28m to advance automatically as well.

There were also two automatic qualifiers in Group “A” – India’s reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra (88.39m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (85.23m).

Walcott opened with a foul throw. On seeing the javelin land well short of the automatic qualifying distance, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist deliberately stepped over the line. He threw 78.87m in round two, and then closed off his Worlds campaign at 76.63.

“This is a crazy day,” Walcott lamented. “I never expected this. I just felt that I couldn’t throw. I felt flat. My body wasn’t responsive in what I wanted it to do. It’s a very disappointing day.

“My training has been good,” he continued. “The last two weeks have been good. The throwing has been going really well in training, but today was my worst session ever, my worst throwing session for the year. The worst session at the worst time. I really can’t explain it.”

Walcott was also 16th in qualifying at last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The back-to-back major championship disappointments have taken a toll on the double Olympic medallist.

“Mentally, right now, I wish I could go home. I’ll see how I feel over the next couple of days, but it’s a big disappointment for me, a bigger disappointment than Tokyo because I knew that coming here I was fit and ready. It’s not what I expected at all, so I’ll see how I deal with it over the next couple days, and then we’ll move on.”

There are many important elements that come together for a championship performance. For Walcott, a crucial ingredient was missing on Thursday. His coach, Cuban Ismael Lopez Mastrapa was unable to get a US visa interview on time, and could not make the trip to Eugene.