JENNY McLoughlin failed to reach the podium on day two of the IPC World Athletics Championships in New Zealand in a dramatic and controversial 200m final.

The 19-year-old from Chepstow battled valiantly to reach yesterday’s T37 200m final, progressing out of the heats 24 hours earlier by the skin of her teeth as the eighth and final fastest qualifier.

And Aviva GB&NI sprinter McLoughlin met her match in the final at Christchurch’s Queen Elizabeth II Park, stumbling just before the finish line and coming home eighth.

McLoughlin clocked a time of 36.93seconds as fellow Brit Katrina Hart was gifted gold by Germany’s Maria Seifert, who collapsed, while leading, inches from the finish line.

“My heat wasn’t great but I wanted to see what happened and I got in the final,” said McLoughlin, who won T37 100m silver at the Commonwealth Games back in October.

“I have been feeling good since getting to Christchurch but the heat was hard and the final was too.

“You tend to do your own thing at major championships but it is great being with all the guys on the team.

“Being in Delhi drove me and the crowd and atmosphere really helped as well, it makes you get up and I think that happened in Delhi and I ran quite well.

“But what happened in Delhi was in Delhi, this is a different competition and there will be some different people and I have to focus on that.”

McLoughlin won’t have to wait long to return to the track at Queen Elizabeth II Park with the T35-38 4x100m relay pencilled in for today.

The Aviva GB&NI sprinter will then go back to her individual schedule with the T37 100m heats following a day later on Tuesday.

Aviva has been supporting British athletes since 1999. To find out more about Aviva’s athletics sponsorship, go to aviva.co.uk/athletics