Christian Malcolm and Christophe Lemaitre dip for the line in Barcelona

European Championships 200m silver medallist Christian Malcolm feared he would not make it to Barcelona, but now has mixed emotions over his final.

The 31-year-old Welshman led off the bend, but was pipped on the line by France's Christophe Lemaitre.

Malcolm said: "It's been a very difficult year for me - it's been a hard year.

"Even two weeks before the [Great Britain] trials I didn't think I'd be going to the Europeans."

However, Malcolm made it and produced one of his most memorable performances on the big stage, having previously appeared in two Olympics finals - a fact he was reminded of ahead of the final by ex-training partner Darren Campbell.

Malcolm also finished fourth at the 2002 European Championships in Munich, but had won only one outdoor major medal since catapulting onto the world athletics scene in 1998.

I just reminded him that he's been in two Olympic finals and when he steps on that line he had to remember that he was the most experienced athlete out there BBC pundit Darren Campbell

The 1998 double World Junior sprint champion won Commonwealth silver at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, but admitted he considered quitting the sport after losing his lottery funding last year.

BBC Five Live pundit Campbell said: "He's not a little boy any more, is he? He's a man and we had a bit of a conversation before the race.

"I just reminded him that he's been in two Olympic finals and when he steps on that line he had to remember that he was the most experienced athlete out there."

Campbell's advice paid off as Malcolm recorded his best time of the season, 20.38 seconds, one-hundredth of a second slower than Lemaitre produced.

Malcolm said: "To actually be here and win a medal is great. It's a bit mixed emotions at moment because I was so close to winning it, but do you know what, I'll take the medal.

"I knew he was coming and I had to set that race up and I just said "if you're going to win it today, you're going to have to work hard for it because I'm going to get out".

606: DEBATE It just shows how poor the standard of European sprinting is at the moment that an over the hill Malcolm can get to within a hair's breadth of winning the 200m title llywarch cadwallader

"It's an absolutely amazing feeling. I've got my medal, I'm happy with it."

Lemaitre, who had won 100m gold on Thursday, said: "It was very hard, very difficult. Christian was very strong and I don't know how I won it."

Malcolm says GB's success in Barcelona augurs well in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics he has targeted as a swansong.

"We're on a high. We had a great training camp, we've got a great team spirit," said Malcolm.

"Going into 2012 now, I think the team's going very well, we've got a lot of talent and we want to do well.

"We want to compete against the best in the world, we want to win medals and we want to become champions."

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