It was double disappointment for James McIlroy as the final of the men's 800 metres championship built to a controversial finish in Budapest yesterday.

First, he saw a brave run, which took him from the back of the field with 120 metres to go, come to nothing when he just failed to catch Lukas Vyora for third place in a race won by the German, Nils Schumann in 1 min 44.89 secs.

Then he learned that the Danish protest, which could have led to Schumann being disqualified and the bronze medal going to Ireland, had been rejected by the EAA's Jury of Appeal.

The protest resulted from a bizarre incident at the entrance to the home straight when the world champion, Wilson Kipketer, struggling in the lead, appeared to be pulled back by the stocky German.

"I was certain I would win the race until somebody grabbed my arm and held me back," said Kipketer. "Once that happened my chance was gone and there was no point in trying to get back into the race."

Kipketer, only a shadow of the great athlete we saw in Athens last summer, after being ill with malaria earlier this year, still exerted a profound influence on the race however, when he bolted into the lead like a startled hare from the off.

Like the rest, the young Irishman was disconcerted by that kind of pace and after drifting to the back of the field on the first circuit, showed little sign of getting competitive again until he suddenly found an extra gear rounding the last curve.

Then in a relentless drive, he began picking off those in front of him in a manner which suggested that had he accelerated earlier, he might have been a potent factor at the finish. Unfortunately, the line came too soon and while the gap was undeniably closing, he eventually ran out of track.

"I simply couldn't believe the speed they went out at - it was a whole new experience for me," he said. "My plan was to start getting competitive between 400 and 600 metres but at that stage I found myself at the back of the field and my chance was gone."

"I'd love to have got a medal but the way the race was run, I was never going to succeed. That, of course, was a big disappointment, but it's been a good learning experience for me. Hopefully, I'll be back for more."

Controversy erupted for a second time after the Olympic champion, Svetlana Masterkova had delivered her finishing effort with all the inevitability of an action replay to win the women's 1500m from Portugal's Carla Sacramento in 4:11.91.

Afterwards, Sacramento claimed that she had been elbowed by the Russian and effectively, it had cost her the chance of adding to her world championship success in Athens.

"I was just kicking into a higher gear when Masterkova pushed me with her elbow," she said. "This is not the first time she has done it - and it's not very nice."

Sinead Delahunty ran on with typical resolve in the second half of the race but still had to settle for ninth place in 4:15.38.

An unsatisfactory week for Susan Smith, ended on an appropriate note in her elimination in the heats of the 100m hurdles.

Lacking the sparkle of her preBudapest programme, Smith could finish only fifth in the heat won by the Russian, Irina Korotya in 13.09 secs.

The Irish woman, already down after 25 metres, was timed at 13.51, almost two-fifths of a second slower than the national record she established at the Irish Championships at Santry last month.

Nor was there much joy for Nick Sweeney, whose bad fortune continues after just failing to make the final of the discus championship. Sweeney, out in the worst of the weather on Saturday, only narrowly failed to make the cut in Group A.

And the significance of that was illustrated when the man who finished immediately in front of him in the preliminaries, Lars Riedel of Germany, went on to win the title yesterday with a throw of 67.07 metres.

Unlike McIlroy, the two UCD athletes, James Nolan and Dave Matthews failed to survive the semi-finals of the 800m, although Nolan almost succeeded when finishing fifth in his race.