By Neil Silver, PA Sport, Paris

Darren Campbell drew a blank in the 200m on a miserable night of track and field action for Britain.

With just the weekend to come, Britain are 25th in the medal table behind the likes of Qatar and St Kitts and Nevis, with only Kelly Holmes' 800 metres silver and Campbell's 100m bronze in the bank.

Campbell had been hoping to become the first British male athlete to win two individual medals in a World Championship, but was edged into fourth place in the final of the 200m, a race won by American John Capel.

Campbell - who still has a chance for a second medal in the 4x100m relay - felt that history finally caught up with him, but promised he would bounce back.

"It's a shame that I didn't win a medal but I've won so many of those close finishes I suppose I was always going to lose one," he said. "It's just unfortunate it happened tonight.

"I haven't been able to sleep since the 100 metres - I've been running that race in my mind hundreds of times and it's been impossible trying to keep all my emotions in check.

"That is something I will take from these championships for next year's Olympics, there are more medals to come from me yet.

"The guys who beat me tonight didn't run the 100 metres and they were fresher than me, so to get so close to them shows the strength I've got."

Capel took advantage of the absence of injured world, Olympic and European champion Kostas Kenteris of Greece to win gold in a time of 20.38secs.

Capel's countryman Darvis Patton, the 2003 US champion, finished second with a run timed in 20.31secs while Asian Games champion and record holder Shingo Suetsugu grabbed Japan's first-ever sprint medal with bronze - just 0.01 secs ahead of Campbell.

"I knew I could do it," said Capel.

"It was kind of cold tonight but I have had an awful lot of fun running like this.

"US sprinting is back on top where it belongs, it feels great, me and Darvis doing what we did for the USA."