A heartbroken Harry Aikines-Aryeetey described his GB team’s bronze medal disqualification from men’s 4x100m event at the IAAF World Athletics Championships on Sunday as the most pain he has ever experienced.

The 24-year-old Sutton & District AC sprint star was involved in a blunderous second leg handover with James Ellington, which unfortunately led to his team’s disqualification.

Canada were promoted to the third podium position after a successful appeal, while Usain Bolt powered Jamaica to yet another relay title in 37.36 seconds and USA staking silver in 37.66secs.

Dwain Chambers, the seven-time national 100m champion, produced a barnstorming final leg to finish third in 37.80secs but it was all for nothing after the whole team were told the bad news.

Aikines-Aryeetey said: “It’s heart-breaking, going out to get your medal and then someone stands in front of you and says sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

“It was a tight change, but I still got the baton in his (Ellington) hand and it felt right.

"I can’t imagine how close it must have been. It doesn’t feel real, I gave him the baton and I ran for my life.

“We’re in an industry where this is our bread and butter; this means a lot to us and we work so hard for it."

He added: “It does take its toll. You can only get knocked down so many times but we are going to come back fighting and we will give it our all next time.

“This still cuts deep, you can’t take away how much this hurts us. Everyone reacted in different ways and this is painful. It’s one of the most painful experiences I’ve experienced in sport.”