Keely Hodgkinson won her Battle of Britain with Laura Muir but was left 'fuming' after once again having to make do with second best.
Britain’s world and Olympic silver medallist had expected to upgrade to gold at the third attempt inside a packed Alexander Stadium.
But Kenya’s Mary Moraa had other ideas, surging at the start, dropping back, then surging off the final bend to break the heart of the British record holder.
It brought disappointment for a home crowd which had come full of hope of another Super Saturday.
World champion Jake Wightman was beaten into third place in the men’s 1500m and Zharnel Hughes, despite his fastest race of the year, had to settle for silver in the men’s 200m.
The only home nation winner came in the field events where Nick Miller retained his hammer title.
Hodgkinson said: “Frustrated is definitely the right word. I gave it my all but I came here for the gold and unfortunately I came away with the silver.. again!
"I wanted to win in front of a home crowd, it would have been so nice to stand on top of the podium with my family here.
“I am disappointed. I’ll go back to the drawing board and try again next year. There are positives but there are still no golds. So I’m fuming.”
Hodgkinson, 20, had arrived at the track declaring her ambition to be “one of the best the world has ever seen”.
She looked to have done everything right, timing her run to perfection to reel in long time leader Natoya Goule off the final bend.
But she did not see Moraa coming and when the 22-year-old went past her up the home straight she was powerless to resist.
Moraa won in a time of 1:57.07 with Hodgkinson 0.33secs behind. It was like groundhog day for the Leigh star, having been pipped on the line by Athing Mu both at the Olympics and Worlds.
Muir, who starts as favourite for the 1500m today, was a whole lot happier with bronze in her ‘bonus’ race,
“My coach told me to get out fast and I did,” she said. “I was still miles off it but I was going to get a medal! This is the one year anniversary of my Olympic silver and that completes my [medal] set.”
Hughes aimed to end a four-year wait to set the record straight having been stripped of the title in 2018 after being found to have impeded runner-up Jereem Richards.
But despite a season’s best 20.12secs was no match for the Trinidadian who smashed the Games record to win in 19.80.
That left Miller, 29, as Britain’s solitary winner and he used his moment of glory to slam athletics chiefs for leaving his sport out in the cold.
Hammer has been excluded from track and field’s Diamond League programme since the series started in 2010.
The burly Cumbrian said: “I’m one of the world’s best hammer throwers and my own country won’t put us on at home.”
Miller said he would welcome a meeting with UK Athletics chief Jack Buckner to discuss the matter.
Matt Hudson-Smith, in the 400m, and England’s sprint relay men will hope to reverse the sequence of near misses on the track today
