Tonbridge AC runner James West from Thanet comes eighth in the 3,000m race at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey

Runner James West was disappointed with his performance as he came eighth at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Turkey.

Tonbridge AC’s West, 27, clocked 7min48.22sec while fellow Brit Jack Rowe was ninth in 7:48.32 in Sunday’s race in Istanbul.

West had qualified for the Final with a time of 7:50.73.

The Final was won by Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen 7:40.32, followed by second-placed Spaniard Adel Mechaal 7:41.75 and Serbia's Elzan Bibic, who came third in 7:44.03.

“I wasn’t good enough unfortunately,” West, presently based in Thanet, told British Athletics’ website.

“I did really think there was a medal for me, but I was a bit too aggressive - too many moves.

“I think it’s maybe a good thing in a way that I'm believing that I need to be on the back of Ingebrigtsen and Mechaal.

“But I couldn’t really get there without wasting too much energy. Maybe if I just sat there and waited a bit longer and been a bit more patient [things may have been different], but that’s why these races are so important - you learn from these things.

“I’ve had a really good indoor season and made my first European Final, so we’ll take that onto outdoors and tweak some things, we’ve got some work to do , that’s OK.”

West had recently won at the British Indoor Athletics Championships to earn qualification for the European event.