GOTHENBURG, Sweden (CMC:)

Jamaica-born high jumper Germaine Mason had a disappointing appearance in his first outing at a major championship for his adopted country when he failed to make the final at the European Championship.

Mason, who switched allegiance to Britain last year, finished ninth in his qualifying group at 2.19 metres and missed making the final.

The 23-year-old Mason was cleared to compete for Britain from March this year after a splendid junior career for Jamaica - that included two World Juniors medals, plus CARIFTA Games and Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior titles - before a promising beginning as a senior.

Mason won the 2003 Pan-American Games title in the Dominican Republic and is the Jamaica record holder at 2.34 metres.

He is a four-time national champion, Jamaica's most successful high jumper and his bronze medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championship in Hungary was the first for the island in the event at a global senior meet.

With a season's best of 2.31 metres, Mason cleared at 2.15 and 2.19 metres but missed all three of his attempts at 2.23 metres and fell out of contention.

Russian Andrey Silnov captured the gold medal at a world-leading 2.36 metres, defeating the Czech Republic's Tomas Janku, with Olympic champion Stefan Holm of Sweden, taking the bronze medal. Janku and Holm both cleared 2.34 metres.

Narrow miss

Merlene Ottey, the veteran Jamaican sprinter now competing for Slovenia, narrowly missed reaching the women's 100-metre final earlier in the week.

Astonishingly still competitive at 46 years old, Ottey clocked 11.41 seconds for third in her first round heat to reach the semi-finals, where she placed fifth in semi-final one in 11.44 seconds and missed by a mere 0.03 seconds reaching the final.

Ottey is one of the most durable and successful athletes of all time, winning a total of 35 medals at major international meets, including eight Olympic medals and 14 at World Championships.