Despite her early exit in the European Championships, Epsom & Ewell AC’s Rosie Clarke says she will learn from the experiences of competing in her very first senior major event.

The 24-year-old finished 12th in the opening heat of women’s 3,000m steeplechase in Holland last week.

Her time of 10 minutes 00.25 seconds was a long way off the cut-off qualifying time of 9:47.32, set by German Maya Rehberg who finished eighth.

But Clarke, who won the British Championships three weeks ago in Birmingham, admitted she gave it her best shot.

“The whole racing in a championship has been a great opportunity, but I’m really disappointed with that performance,” she said.

“It’s a shame I couldn’t pull it out of the bag today but I tried.

“I went with them at the start, but faded near the end as I didn’t quite realise how quickly they were running.

"When you come from 1,500m to steeplechase, it does feel slow at the start – it’s tough, but I’ll learn from it.”