The British medal hopefuls at these world championships slipped away as Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Holly Bradshaw and Andrew Pozzi all failed in their quest to reach the podium.

Johnson-Thompson finished fifth in the heptathlon, having to all intents bid farewell to her medal hopes with her collapse in the high jump on the first day. She was unable to claw back enough ground to trouble her leading rivals, despite finishing with a strong 800m.

The Liverpudlian has long been proclaimed as the successor to Jessica Ennis-Hill’s golden girl throne, securing lucrative sponsorship and advertising contracts to match her reputation. But unfortunately timed injuries and mental breakdowns have prevented the 24-year-old delivering on undoubted potential.

She finished with 6,558 points but again it was a story of failing to deliver on the biggest stage when the chips were down. Had she matched the personal best score of 6,691 achieved in Götzis in May, Johnson-Thompson would have been comfortably in the medals.

Afterwards she was close to tears but insisted it was a “freak” failure in the high jump rather than psychological frailty, which proved her undoing.

“I feel like I’m at ease with the high jump and it’s just a freak accident,” she said, “I just missed a real opportunity unfortunately at a home champs.”

The Belgian Olympic champion, Nafi Thiam, who is two years Johnson-Thompson’s junior, was a model of consistency, winning with 6,784 points ahead of Germany’s Carolin Schäfer and Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands.

Johnson-Thompson was fourth overnight, going to bed knowing she would require the second-day performance of her life and probably one of her rivals to slip up in order to win a medal. She went to 6.56m with her first effort in the long jump but was unable to better that mark.

After the javelin, one of her weaker events, Johnson-Thompson slipped to fifth with a throw of 41.72m and was 179 points adrift of Vetter, well poised in third, but it proved an insurmountable gap.

There was devastation, too, for Andrew Pozzi who had his sights set on a medal in the 110m hurdles. The 25-year-old led coming off the final hurdle but finished fourth in his semi-final in 13.28sec. “I think the times were very fast to make a world final but it was nothing outside my capabilities,” he said, “It’s obviously frustrating that it was close but at the same time I should have been better. I didn’t do what I could have done, I didn’t do what I should have done. Undoubtedly things will improve but I was ready to make the final tonight and I didn’t, so that’s the bottom line.”

Holly Bradshaw celebrated wildly after clearing 4.65m with her final attempt in the pole vault but her ecstasy was short lived. The 25-year-old did not come close to clearing 4.75m and was inconsolable afterwards.

Callum Hawkins of GB finishes fourth in the men’s marathon on Tower Bridge. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

There was better news for Callum Hawkins, already envisaging a battle with Mo Farah next year after a superb run to finish fourth in the marathon, his best ever result in a major championship. The Scotsman had spells in the lead and the crowd packing the streets of London sensed silverware as Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu began to tire ahead. But the 25-year-old could not quite bridge the gap, finishing 26 seconds adrift.

Nevertheless a personal best of 2hr 10min 17sec and fourth place equalled the best ever finish by a British man at the world championships, matching Pete Whitehead’s result in Gothenburg in 1995. Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui engaged in a fierce battle with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola over the second half of the race but broke away with five miles to run to win in 2hr 08min 27sec, more than a minute ahead of Tola.

“It’s bittersweet,” Hawkins said afterwards. “I could see the third place in the distance. I maybe left it a bit too late. But I’m still young, maybe in the future I’ll get in the medals, that’s what I was aiming for. Hopefully, I’ll push on with Commonwealth Games and Tokyo 2020 beyond that and get on the podium.”

He was relishing the prospect of Farah joining him on the road after he retires from the track after London 2017. “I could have a team-mate up there,” said Hawkins. “It’s another challenge. Hopefully he’ll be seeing the back of my head. I’m joking, he’s a quality athlete and hopefully we’ll have a few tussles.”

There was another brave run in the women’s marathon by Aly Dixon, the Wearsider who led for half the race, whipping up the crowd along the way, before finishing 18th in 2hr 31min 36sec.

• This article was amended on 8 August 2017 to correct the location of the 1995 world championships from Helsinki to Gothenburg.

