Australian 400m runner Steve Solomon has made an unhappy competitive return to the London Olympic Stadium.
Five years after his breakthrough performance at the London Games - when he became the first Australian man in 24 years to qualify for the Olympic men's one-lap final - Solomon was eliminated in the opening round at the world championships.
Running in lane nine on Saturday, the 24-year-old Solomon went out hard and was in second spot at the top of the straight.
But he faded badly in the final 100m metres, crossing the line in seventh spot in 46.27 seconds.
It was more than a second slower than the 45.19 Solomon clocked in California only last month which booked his spot at the championships.
The New South Welshman underwent major hamstring surgery in 2014 and missed qualification for the Rio Olympics by just four hundredths of a second, but had high hopes coming into the London meet.
World record holder Wayde van Niekerk from South Africa won Solomon's heat in 45.27, while Botswana's Isaac Makwala had the fastest opening-round time of 44.56.
Meanwhile Australian Damian Birkinhead bombed out in a men's shot put qualifying round dominated by New Zealander Tomas Walsh.
Birkinhead's best throw of 19.90m was only good enough for 20th spot overall, with the top dozen advancing to Sunday's final (early Monday AEST).
Walsh topped the list with 22.14m - the second-biggest throw at a world championships - while fellow Kiwi Jacko Gill also eased through in fifth spot.
"It's amazing what you can do when you just get out there and throw for throwing's sake," said Walsh.
"There are two thoughts on qualifying - some guys think 'I want to throw one centimetre over it' and others, like me, want to see how far they can throw."
Australian Peter Bol was never in contention in his 800m first-round heat.
The Sudanese-born Bol was seventh in 1:47.08, more than two and a half seconds behind heat winner Emmanuel Korir from Kenya.
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