Exclusive by Alex Hoad

Olympic hopeful Martin Brockman has described his ‘empty feeling’ after seeing his London 2012 prospects all but ended.

The 24-year-old decathlete from Maidstone – who won bronze at the 2012 Commonwealth Games in India – pulled out of the Arona Combined Events competition in Tenerife on Saturday after a disappointing start.

It was the second straight international competition Brockman had failed to complete. To make matters worse, his British rival Dan Awde went on to win in style, recording a new personal best of 8,102 which broke the Olympic B qualifying standard.

Brockman’s failure to complete the event also means he missed out on a place in the European Championships in Finland at the end of June and he’s left with one final chance to reach the Olympic qualifying standard at Hexham on June 30 and July 1 – the week before the TeamGB Olympic team is named.

Brockman said: "I have to accept it is unlikely that I will get in now. Unless I do something extraordinary, then it’s over. Dan has set a challenging score.

"It’s a weird, empty feeling not knowing what you’re training for.

"I took Monday off and then went straight back into it on Tuesday. I ran and ran and ran until I felt happy again. I’m just going to train like an idiot for the next four weeks and give it everything.

"Even if there is only a 1% chance, I have to keep going."

The Medway & Maidstone AC member was disappointed with his 100m time of 11.61secs and high jump of 1.94m but satisfied with his long jump of 7.14m and shot put of 13.97m to sit on 3,053 points before withdrawing.

While refusing to give up on London 2012 just yet, Brockman has now turned his thoughts toward the road to Rio in 2016.