Greg Rutherford crashes out as rival Chris Tomlinson slams Moscow selection process
OLYMPIC champion Greg Rutherford exited the World Championships at the qualification stage today in Moscow.
Rutherford failed to make the Long Jump finals a year on from winning Olympic gold at London 2012, sparking fresh criticism from rival Chris Tomlinson.
Finishing 14th in qualification today, Rutherford's best jump of 7.87 metres was well shy of his 8.35m personal best set last year.
And Tomlinson vented his anger at the situation on Twitter after Rutherford's below-par showing in Russia.
"Words can't describe my anger season ruined on media profile & not current athletic form, thanks for the support from the athletics community," Tomlinson wrote, before hastily deleting the post.
He later added: "Thanks for the support,choosing not to tweet (again) will regret it when my blood pressure settles!! Good luck to all the team il see u soon."
Rutherford was selected ahead of Tomlinson by UK Athletics performance director Neil Black despite the former injuring his hamstring just five weeks ago at a Diamond League meeting in Paris.
Rutherford previously insisted he would not have travelled to Moscow unless he believed he was fit enough to compete, having recovered quickly to treatment.
And the 26-year-old defended his selection after bowing out of the event, saying: "Ultimately I'm still British number one as it stands and still jumped further multiple times than him this year.
"I've beaten him every time apart from when I got hurt. I think in any event, no matter what if you're looking at somebody better whose failed the distance that year but won more head-to-heads and still has a major title behind them, it's a no brainer.
"Surely, you'd pick anyone in any event in the same scenario?
"Again, Chris is obviously going to be upset but there's nothing I can do about that.
"We both put ourselves in a not-great position by not jumping an 'A' qualifier so that's what it comes down to.
"We had plenty of opportunities and when speaking to Neil Black, he gave us a two-week extension, he didn't give that to anyone else.
"So we should have got the job done. And it just gave me enough time to get fit.
"I'm feeling pretty good but just not jumping far enough at the moment. I'm not too concerned about tweets and whatever else."
Rutherford's early exit from the World Championship's caps a miserable season for Milton Keynes athlete following on from his Olympic success.
Since last year's London games he has lost his sponsorship and split with American coach Dan Pfaff.
But Rutherford believes he and the team got the selection decision right.
"Yeah, I think so," he replied to questions over his selection. "I genuinely did feel as if I could.
"We went through so many different tests just to see where I was at.
"I was running really, really quick, hitting the board really nicely in all practice sessions we'd had so there was no reason why not.
"For whatever reason today whenever I took off I just didn't have that extra bit that I've normally had and I don't think there's any way of testing that in competition.
"You never really know what's going to come out and you've got to bear in mind."