BIRMINGHAM — Dwain Chambers won the 100m showdown with 18-year-old prodigy Adam Gemili at the Aviva 2012 Trials in Birmingham.
Chambers’s 10,25secs in cold, grey conditions was enough but left him seven hundredths of a second outside the A qualification time he required.
Gemili, in his first full season in the sport, has both the time and top-two finish required.
The former footballer admitted afterwards that he has yet to decide whether to compete in London.
Chambers must now secure that all-important time before the cut-off date of July 1 — possibly at next week’s European Championships in Helsinki — to complete a controversial comeback after his Olympic ban was overturned two months ago.
The 34-year-old swore and screamed as he crossed the line and, after apologising for his language, admitted that he had been “scared as hell”.
He said: “The heat and the semi-final went terribly and I wasn’t feeling my normal self.
“I knew Adam would be really close and I could feel him getting closer and closer. In a situation like this I have to draw on my experience and that’s what enabled me to win today.”
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James Dasaolu, the only other man with the qualifying mark of 10,18secs, held off Simeon Williamson to take third and will now be favourite for the final discretionary spot.
Gemili, a former Chelsea FC trainee who was a complete unknown at the start of this year, has always maintained that next month’s World Junior Championships in Barcelona are his main focus. But he now has the chance to represent his country at a home Olympics after holding his nerve in the biggest race of his life so far.
He said: “Everyone wants to go (to London) — I’ve run the time, I’ve got the spot, but I’ll talk to my coach and see what happens.
“I was really nervous going into the final. These guys weren’t going to make it easy on me. But until January this year I was playing football, so to be selected for the Olympics is unbelievable.”
On a day when the weather affected times and distances, medal hopefuls Dai Greene, Greg Rutherford and Christine Ohuruogu all booked their places in the squad for London while Jessica Ennis — already guaranteed her slot — underlined her excellent form.
