Spencer Barden of UK Athletics informed Dixon of the news just after she had won the race, much to her disappointment.

"UKA have known we were running here for months and they have never told us it was not a qualifying race," she said.

"I am obviously very disappointed."

To make matters worse, she posted what would have been a World Championship qualifying time in the process.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) lay out the selection criteria for Olympic qualification.

Just last Friday (April 8) race director Tim Hutchings was told by UK Athletics that the race was not on the list, but the organisation then confused matters further by suggesting that if a world record was run then it would be recognised because of Brighton's status as a certified course.

The Brighton course has been certified by Hugh Jones, a senior AIMS/IAAF A-grade course measurer

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