KAREN Legg's hopes of qualifying for the European short course championships ended disastrously on Sunday when she was disqualified in her main event.

Legg, 25, had only to finish in the first three of the 200m freestyle at the British short course championships at Stockport to claim a place on the plane to Dublin in December. But disaster struck when she was ruled out of the final for moving at the start of her heat.

Legg said: "I knew I had moved but I kept swimming and hoped that they hadn't noticed. Unfortunately they had. It's one of those things."

She added: "It didn't go to plan. I had a bit of a sulk afterwards but then decided to come back and do the 100m butterfly final. I'm just glad this wasn't the Olympic trials or the world championships."

Ferndown coach Tony Watson said: "It's not been a good week but worse things happen at sea."

Legg's qualification problems were compounded because she had withdrawn from the 50m freestyle heats in the same session, ironically to concentrate on the 200m.

This meant she was no long eligible to swim in the semi-finals or final even though third or possibly even fourth place could have booked her ticket to Dublin.

She had also had a disappointing swim in Friday's 100m freestyle final, finishing seventh in 55.70, her slowest time over the distance for some time. The one bright spot was the 50m butterfly in which she picked up the bronze medal in 27.43 with Otters team mate Alex Savage fifth in 27.87.

But that event does not count as a qualifier for the Europeans so she was left last night with only the 100m butterfly final - not usually part of her competitive programme.

Savage was also in this final and she took an early lead before slipping back to eighth place in 1:02.58.

Legg finished sixth in 1:01.77 - so neither of Dorset's two world championship swimmers will be at Dublin.

Legg said: "I'm a bit disappointed obviously but the European short course championships are not the most important thing on the programme. I'm having a break now, then I'm off to a training camp in Australia next month to start preparing for the Olympic trials in March."