Olympics: Alistair Cragg looked out of sorts and missed out on qualification by finishing eighth in Heat 2 of the men's 1500 metres at the Bird's Next Stadium today.
Kenya's Asbel Kipruto Kiprop won Cragg's heat in 3:41.28 in what turned out to be the slowest of the four heats by almost five seconds.
Cragg kicked for the line along the home straight but his race was already run before crossing the line in 3:44.90.
The top five from each of the heats, plus the fastest losers, qualified for the next round.
Earlier in the day David O'Loughlin's Olympic hopes came to an abrupt end after the Mayo rider failed to advance from the men's individual pursuit qualifying at the Laoshan Olympic Velodrome.
O'Loughlin was paired with Australia's legendary multiple Olympic medal winner Bradley McGee, who also failed to qualify, in the seventh of nine match-ups.
Although the Irishman made a strong start he faded badly in the last kilometre of the four-kilometre pursuit to clock a time of 4:26.102, well off his Irish record time of 4:20.90
O'Loughlin finished 11th overall, some two seconds outside of the qualification time needed to secure one of the top eight places that qualify for tomorrow's next round.
Britain's Bradley Wiggins blitzed the qualifying field to set a new Olympic record in a time of 4:15.031. New Zealand's Hayden Roulston was second (4:18.990) with Russia's Alexei Markov third (4:21.498).