MILTON OUT OF STEAM

By Ray Chesterton in Beijing, 10 September 2008

Michael Milton yesterday failed to qualify for the cycling final of the men's 3000m individual pursuit.

The former world champion skier, who has won 11 winter Paralympic medals, is aiming to become Australia's first dual summer and winter medallist.

After placing ninth in the 1km time-trial on Sunday, the 35-year-old had been hoping for a medal in his pet event.

But his time of 4min 10.439sec at the Laoshan Velodrome was three seconds below his best.

Milton is in remission from cancer after being diagnosed mid-last year.

"I'm a little disappointed," he said. "I put myself in a position to win a good time and at the 2km things were looking OK. But I died in the last kilometre and lost a lot of time.

"When you look back at the preparation, some things haven't certainly been as consistent as I would have liked."

Milton will contest the road race [ed] but said his chances of winning a medal were slim.