After the highs of her ecstatic maiden British indoor title triumph last week, Epsom’s Emelia Gorecka slumped straight back down to earth at British Indoor Grand Prix IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting in Birmingham on Saturday.

The 20-year-old struggled to keep up with the pace during the women’s 3,000m as she finished a disappointing 10th place in nine minutes 11.03 seconds.

Tunisia’s classy world and Olympic steeplechase silver medallist Habiba Ghribi, who was competing in her very first indoor race, led the way in the last five laps to clinch victory in 8:46.61, while Senbere Teferi from Ethophia (8:46.84) and America Jordan Hasay (8:50.21) finished second and third, respectively.

Gorecka clocked 9:06.27 at her indoor debut in Sheffield last week and was keen to break nine minutes in front of a sold out 11,000 crowd at newly renovated Barclaycard Arena, but was understandably disappointed. 

“I gave it a go but I’m gutted at the way I performed,” she said.

“I should be at sub-nine minute shape so it’s a bit heartbreaking really.

“I wanted to have another go and experience at it. The race was kind of slow but picked it up quite a lot but for me I rather go out quite hard and hang on. I kept on trying to change pace but I found that really hard so I’m not quite there yet.

“It’s good to get the experience but I’m very frustrated at that. It’s a bit annoying because I’m in better shape than that. There’s no excuses, I was just wasn’t quite there unfortunately.

“I’m strong though so I’ll keep building upon that.”