ED McKeever's hopes of defending his Olympic canoe sprint title in Rio this summer are over after he failed to get the result he needed in Duisberg, Germany today.

Bradford on Avon's McKeever, who claimed gold in the men's K1 200 metres event in London, needed a top two finish in the continental qualifying event, but finished in fifth place - 0.97 seconds behind winner Saul Craviotto of Spain at the European Canoe Sprint Olympic Qualifer.

The 32 year old said: "I'm obviously disappointed. The two most important races of this last four years - the worlds last year and today - were probably my worst. But I guess that's life.

"I can't fault my preparations. Training has been good and I had a solid winter under my belt. I can't really explain why and I'm not going to dwell on it too much but it just didn't happen.

"The end goal was the Rio Olympics which is off the table now so I will go away and reflect and see where I go from here."