DANNY Talbot's hopes of a world championship medal were dashed as tensions within Great Britain's men's 4x100 metres relay team threatened to boil over after another baton blunder at the World Championships in Beijing.

A mistake on the final-leg changeover between James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah, who appeared to go off too early, resulted in the team failing to finish. 

And Ellington and Richard Kilty responded by blasting the decision to drop Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who had run in the heats, for Ujah in the final and claiming the sprinters themselves needed to have more say in team selection.

"We're going out in a team which is brand new and inexperienced," said Kilty, who ran the first leg and handed over to Trowbridge ace Talbot.

"With the runners we had out this morning we could have got a medal easily."

Jamaica took the gold, with China being promoted to silver after the United States were disqualified.

Talbot said: "We win as a team and we lose as a team, not just us four but there is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Adam Gemili as well.

"We just have to move on and make sure we get it right for the Olympics.''

Kilty added: "We're trying different things all the time. That's not the way forward.

"It's just heartbreaking knowing it would have been so easy to get bronze. We ran a lot better in the heat the first three legs. It's team work, individuals don't make teams.

"The team's been chopped and changed a lot of times in the last week. It's not been stable at all.

"I feel a bit sorry for Harry. He's been a core member of the team. If Harry had been there we would have got the job done.

"It's probably not the order that we wanted as a team. The team together had decided on a team that we thought was best, but it completely switched three hours before a World Championship final."

Ellington added: "There's always going to be tension when certain members of the squad feel they deserve a place on the team and they've earned it. Harry has been a solid member of the team for the past two years."

Ellington insisted there was "no divide" among the athletes in the team, but it was hard not to feel sympathy for Ujah.

The 21-year-old was the best British sprinter in the individual 100m at these championships, comfortably outperforming Kilty and James Dasaolu.

He said: "I didn't feel like I pushed out hard, I can honestly say that. I knew I was going to be running in the final and I was ready for it.

"Everyone's got their own opinion. I can only do what I was told to do and I was told to come into the team. I would have loved to race in the heats, but I didn't get picked for one reason or another."

Stephen Maguire is in charge of the sprint relay programme at British Athletics, having taken full control at the start of the year.

But Ellington said the athletes themselves had to have "more of a say when it comes to selection".

"We are always asked what we think the team should be and we voice our opinions, but at the end of the day we have no say in the team and have to sit back and take what we are given," he said.

"At the end of the day, we're the ones running. And if we screw it up out there we're the ones who take the flak for it and lose our funding."

Kilty added: "There needs to be a lot more structure and communication between the coaches and the athletes. It's all over the place."