By James Toney in Berlin

WILLIAM SHARMAN justified his last-minute call up to the Great Britain squad, but just missed out on a medal in the 110m hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships here.

Sharman was not included in the original team, but clocked a new personal best of 13.44 in Loughborough the day after the squad was announced, convincing UKA head coach Charles van Commenee he was worthy of a place on the plane.

He then lowered that mark to 13.38 with a storming semi-final run and clocked 13.30 as he finished behind bronze medallist USA's David Payne in the final.

Ryan Braithwaite, of Barbados, took gold ahead of American favourite Terence Trammell.

Sharman now believes he belongs in their company after moving behind only Colin Jackson, Andy Jarrett and Andy Turner on the all-time UK list.

"I can't say I'm disappointed, even if it's the worst place to finish, especially in a final like this," said Sharman.

"I can't complain about who I lost to. Braithwaite's a relative newcomer but the two Americans are a couple of my idols."

Greg Rutherford has been promising he was saving his best for when it mattered - now finally someone might believe him.

Rutherford has endured a bad time since his breakthrough long jump silver at the European Championships three years ago.

Injuries and loss of form have conspired against him, but last night he jumped further than ever to break the British record and book a place in tomorrow's World Championships final.

Rutherford recorded a leap of 8.30m with his first attempt, propelling him into the world's top 10 and advancing to the final as the second best qualifier.

"I've been jumping really well in recent weeks and I knew if I could nail my take-off, I could do something pretty special," said Rutherford.

"I've been aiming for the British record for years and after the jump I looked at the scoreboard and couldn't quite believe my eyes."

Meanwhile, Emily Freeman produced the performance of her life as she stormed into the final of the 200m in Berlin.

The 28-year-old Brit qualified as a fastest loser for today's final after having finished third in the first of three semi-finals in a new personal best time of 22.64 seconds. Aviva has been the team behind UK Athletics for over a decade, supporting the Aviva GB & NI Team both at home and abroad. Please visit aviva.co.uk/athletics to find out more.