Brit quartet flop out

Sayers failed to reach the final of the women's javelin, the Belgrave Harrier looking uncomfortable throughout her qualifying round and managing just 57.23m.

Sayers had headed to Osaka confident of challenging for a place on the podium after breaking the British record at the Loughborough International meeting in May with a throw of 65.05m.

She also she finished ahead of all three medallists from last year's European Championships with an effort on 63.59m in rainy conditions in Glasgow and also cleared 63m at the UK trials in Manchester.

But the 25-year-old again failed to produce on the world stage after finishing a disappointing fifth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 57.29m before an equally below-par 54.70m saw her finish 12th and last in the final of the European Championships in Gothenburg.

The Czech pair of Nikola Brejchova (64.29) and Barbora Spotakova (63.77) led the 12 qualifiers for the final.

Benjamin, meanwhile, was always up against it in a strong 400m semi final including LaShawn Merritt, who romped home in 44.31 while Benjamin languished in sixth with a poor time of 46.17.

The one-time World number two has struggled with injuries since beating reigning Olympic and World Champion Jeremy Wariner in London two years ago and was touch-and-go to compete in Osaka but surely must have expected to run closer to 45 seconds in good conditions.

The British long jump duo of Tomlinson and Rutherford also failed to reach their final.

Tomlinson broke his five-year-old British long jump record of 8.27 metres by two centimetres in Germany in July, but could only manage 7.89m at the Nagai Stadium to finish 16th overall, 10cm short of the qualifying distance.

Greg Rutherford also failed to advance after reaching just 7.77m to finish in 21st position.

Tomlinson endured an injury-ravaged 2005 but looked to have put recent turmoils, which had caused the Teessider to question his future in the sport, behind him after following up his record breaking throw in Germany with Great Britain's only medal at August's Norwich Union Grand Prix with a last-gasp effort of 8.16m.

South African Godfrey Mokoena's leap of 8.28m was the best. World champion Dwight Phillips leaped 8.22 metres to qualify easily.

Jo Pavey impressed in a tough 5,000m qualifer to finish fourth in her race behind Meseret Defar and reach the final.

Andy Turner reached the semi-finals of the men's 110 metres hurdles, his time of 13.27 only earned him third place in heat five but was also the third best of the morning.

Abby Westley and Lisa Dobriskey safely qualified for the second round of the women's 1500m.