Alistair Cragg finished a disappointing 17th in his heat of the 5,000m at the London 2012 Olympics.
The 31-year-old ran a time of 13:47.01 and missed out on the final by 16 seconds.
The first five in each heat plus the five fastest losers, with the latter all coming from Cragg's heat, will now contest the medal race on Saturday night.
Mo Farah comfortably qualified from heat one in third place as he bids for a big-race double following his victory in the 10,000m.
"This is very disappointing after all the effort that was put in by everybody in my camp," said Cragg.
Cragg, a former European indoor champion, always looked like he was struggling, having been hampered by injury in the build-up to the Games.
