Long distance ace Patrick Dever has missed out on Olympic selection in the 10,000m

The former Leyland St Mary’s High School pupil was in contention to win a place in the field for the 10,000m in Tokyo.

That was because of a remarkable run of results by the 24-year-old over the past month.

In the USA, he won the NCAA Division One 10,000m title in a championship record and then followed that up with victory in the 5,000m at the UK Championships in Manchester just over a week ago.

Although he had narrowly failed to achieve the Olympic qualification time, his rise in the world rankings meant that there was a good chance he would have earned selection.

Unfortunately despite being given the nod by British Athletics, the International Athletics Association of Federations (IAAF) have denied him a place.

“British Athletics got in touch with me and told me that they had selected me but it was dependent on the IAAF,” said Dever, who went to St Anne's Primary School.

“In the event that I have been nominated for – the 10,000m – enough people had achieved the qualifying standard so I didn’t manage to get in unfortunately.

“It was quite disappointing but next time I will make sure I will get the qualifying standard so there will be no issues surrounding that.

“I can’t be too disappointed though because at the start of the season, the Olympic Games was not really on the radar.

“If it had have been then I think I would have tried to have got into a race to try to run the qualifying time.

“I was able to win races and I think I would have been in a position where I would have been able to run the qualifying time but in the end I have just run out of time.”

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