Turnbull ran bravely in Greece but his efforts were in vain

Despite a brave effort in Thessalonika, Turnbull's finished in eighth place in 3:40.41 which was 4.21 seconds outside the Olympic standard.

Turnbull lost ground on the final lap in a race won by Morocco's Adil Kaoch in 3:36.59.

The Irishman's personal best set last year is 3:36.60.

Tactically, Turnbull did everything right in the race over the opening three laps but he was unable to keep up with the leaders on the closing circuit.

The Belfastman has been chasing the time for several weeks but he was fighting a losing battle after missing three months of training over the winter.

Also in Thessalonika, another Irishman Paul Hession suffered Olympic heartbreak despite claiming a tremendous win in the 200m.

Hession's winning time of 20.61 was an agonising .02 outside the Olympic standard and he will miss out on the games with Tuesday the Olympic Council of Ireland's final deadline.

Those behind Hession, who cut .20 off his personal best, included Britain's Marlon Devenish (20.77) while another Irishman Gary Ryan finished fifth in 21.00.

James McIlroy will not be travelling to the Olympics

Karen Shinkins and Freda Daveron claimed second places at the meeting but both were outside the Olympic standards.

Shinkins clocked 52.17 in the 400m - .02 outside her season's best - but was well-adrift of the Athens mark of 51.50.

Aliann Pompey of Guyana won the race in 51.02 while those behind Shinkins included Britain's Helen Karagounis.

Daveron's hopes in the 1500m weren't helped by an incident in the final lap when she was almost knocked over and her time of 4:09.07 left her behind Poland's Anna Jacubsac (4:08.00).

Ireland's Rob Daly finished a solid third in the men's 400m but his time of 46.23 was .68 outside the Athens mark.

In a race won by Jamaica's Michael Blackwood in 44.96, Ireland's David McCarthy was fourth in 46.41.

Meanwhile, James McIlroy's Athens hopes are over after UK Athletics said it would ask British Olympic Association to agree to the selection of Ricky Soos for the games.

Soos only has the B standard but he finished ahead of McIlroy at the recent British Olympic trials.