Christian Malcolm finished fifth in the final of the men's Olympic 200 metres as Cardiff-based Darren Campbell stole the show in claiming a silver medal.

Malcolm failed to recapture his semi-final form but proved he has the ability and the composure to compete at the very highest level.

Running a time of 20.23 seconds, he was just three hundredths of a second outside the bronze medal-winning time of Ato Boldon.

Starting in lane three, he was faced with a tighter bend than he would have liked but still managed to stay with the pace and was in medal contention with fifty metres to go.

For Britain, Darren Campbell stole the headlines.

Campbell, who is part of Linford Christie's Cardiff-based training group, produced a sensational run of 20.14 seconds to finish second.

Both he and Malcolm finished behind Kostantinos Kenderis of Greece who won gold in a time of 20.09 seconds.

American John Capel was left for dead at the blocks. He failed to react to the gun and finished in eighth place.

Pace

Campbell, starting in lane six, had the advantage of having pre-Olympic favourite Ato Boldon and 100m bronze-medallist Obadele Thompson outside him.

He becomes Britain's first Olympic 200 metres medallist since Allan Wells in 1980.

Campbell was able to pace his run against those outside him and ran both Thompson and Boldon down in the latter stages of the race to prove his credentials as a world-class sprinter.

Kenteris

Kenteris' victory was something of a surprise, even though the Sydney 200m was one of the most wide-open in recent memory.

The Greek took full advantage of the absence of Americans Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson, after they were both injured in the US Olympic trials.

Men's 200m final:

1. Konstantinos Kenteris (Greece) 20.09
2. Darren Campbell (Britain) 20.14
3. Ato Boldon (Trinidad) 20.20
4. Obadele Thompson (Barbados) 20.20
5. Christian Malcolm (Britain) 20.23
6. Claudinei da Silva (Brazil) 20.28
7. Coby Miller (US) 20.35
8. John Capel Jr (US) 20.49

Wind speed: -0.6 mps