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Craig Pickering has lashed out at the decision to leave him out of the World Championship relay squad after the British sprinter was left twiddling his thumbs in Berlin.

The 23-year-old has clocked a season's best of 10.22 seconds this season - 0.01 outside the A qualifying standard for the individual 100m in Berlin.

Pickering was in truth nowhere near making the squad for the individual positions, with no less than six British sprinters posting faster times in 2009.

The Milton Keynes athlete did however, hold hopes of making the 4x100m relay team, having been selected as part of the travelling six-man squad.

But Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey got the nod in Berlin, and duly claimed bronze behind Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

And having been forced to watch from the sidelines at the World Championships, Pickering, who stormed to 100m victory in the B final at the British Grand Prix last weekend, insists his disappointment will drive him on for the remainder of the season.

"I'm running properly now because I was disappointed I wasn't part of the relay team," said Pickering, who was made a scapegoat after the failure to get the baton round successfully in Beijing 2008

"Although I don't agree with the decision made in Berlin I've got to accept it so I'm coming out to prove that I should have been in the team.

"It's obviously just my opinion but there were people in that team who I have beaten numerous times this year.

"I don't want to know what the reason was because I won't agree with it - I don't need to know I'm just going to run angrier.

"I only found out I wasn't going to be in the team a couple of days before the heats in Berlin. It's given me a lot of motivation because the whole three weeks that we were out there, deep down I knew I was never going to be part of the team.

"So while I was there I just put in a good block of training so I could come back and I think I showed what I've got in Gateshead."

Pickering has already turned his attentions to 2010 with just one more race left on his schedule this season, in Rieti, Italy this weekend.

And while he is only too aware of the competition he will face, Pickering is determined to make a spot on the team to the European Championships his.

"Making the team is hard enough there are four guys under 10.10 this year and I'm not one of them. I've got to make sure I'm one of the guys who can get in the team first and then be at the Europeans," he added.

"There are some good sprinters in Europe but if you're in the British team then you've got to be looking at making the final and once you're in the final you've got to be looking at getting a medal so that'll be one of the things I'll be looking for.

"I think I can be quite inconsistent - sometimes I can get a great start and finish poorly. It's just a case of having enough energy in my body to put them both together. I think it's going to require some longer distance runs so that's the main thing I'm going to work on over the winter."

More than the Games / Eurosport