IWAN THOMAS has vowed to bounce back a stronger athlete next year after his world championship hopes went up in smoke at Crystal Palace last night - by just one tenth of a second.

Southampton's European and Commonwealth champion cut a disconsolate figure as he trudged off the track having finished back in fifth place and knowing that the 45.72 second qualifying standard for Edmonton had eluded him.

Thomas will still take part in next month's world championships as part of the Great Britain 4x400m squad.

But this latest disappointment comes in the wake of a disastrous two years when he missed out on last summer's Olympics with hamstring problems, just 12 months after ducking out on the world championship because of an ankle injury.

But Thomas is a born fighter and after taking ten minutes out alone to collect his thoughts, the 27-year-old from Netley pledged: "I'm not going to give up.

"I've got to keep believing in myself and keep going.

"I know I can come back next year twice as good and all the others know that too. They know how much I want this."

Thomas realised before the race had even reached its half-way mark that he had got his tactics woefully wrong.

He was well off the pace down the back straight but was wary of putting in too much effort round the bend for fear of blowing up in the final 100 metres.

Ahead of him there was an intriguing battle in which his arch-rival Mark Richardson, the only Briton so far selected for the 400m in Canada, edged to victory in a season's best 45.22, just one-hundredth of a second clear of Jamaica's Olympic bronze medallist, Greg Haughton.

Thomas dug in and made up some of the lost ground down the home straight to finish in 45.82sec, behind Saudi Arabia's world junior champion, Hamdan Al-Bishi, and the USA's Jerome Young.

Worryingly for the British selectors, world indoor champion Daniel Caines, who said earlier this week that he would not go to Edmonton next month if he was running badly, trailed in sixth in 45.87.

With fellow Brit Mark Hylton and Jamie Baulch even further behind, it means that, at best, only two of the three 400m places will be filled when the British team is finalised later today.

Thomas will now have to prepare for the relay squad, but his sights will be firmly targeted on 2002 and a chance to defend his Commonwealth title in Manchester, plus his European crown in Munich.

He reflected: "I was so far off the pace for the first 300m that I was fighting a losing battle.

"What's breaking my heart is that I usually feel knackered after a race, but this time I'm not even tired.

"I had plenty in reserve but my race plan just was not there.

"I should have gone off a lot harder like I have been doing every day in training. I've only got myself to blame.

"Coming back after two years of injury has been a lot harder than I had anticipated, but at least I have got the background behind me to have a real go next year.

"I'm gutted, but I gave it my best," he added.