Ireland's hopes of having a men's 4x400m relay squad at the Olympics Games in Beijing are over.
Paul McKee and his team-mates had been hoping to chase the qualifying time in Lucerne on Wednesday but the IAAF have refused to sanction the race.
McKee will still run an individual 400m in Lucerne as he continues to chase the Olympic Games standard.
The Belfast runner, who competes in Lignano in Italy on Sunday, will miss next weekend's Irish Championship.
IAAF permission was going to be required if a 4x400m relay was going to be added to the Lucerne meeting but this was not forthcoming, much to McKee's frustration.
"I'm very disappointed with the IAAF for not giving us the opportunity to qualify for the relay, especially since we had the race lined up in Lucerne, with the required three countries ready to compete," McKee told BBC Sport.
"The relay officials were already going to be there as there is a 4x100m competition at that meeting."
With the relay team's hopes now over, McKee will now focus on his last-ditch attempts to secure individual qualification for Beijing.
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He season's best of 46.55, set last weekend in Madrid, is a full second outside the Beijing standard but McKee acknowledges that he is facing "a big ask".
"Time is running out but I'm going to give it a big effort."
After running in Lignano on Sunday and Lucerne on Wednesday, McKee will compete in Barcelona next Saturday, as opposed to running in the Irish Championships at Santry.
He has taken that decision because he believes the Barcelona conditions will offer a better chance of getting close to the Olympic qualifying standard.
"The three meetings over the next week are all very good European Grand Prix permit meets.
"Conditions should be warm, I will have good opposition and good opportunities to go and run fast.
"It's very unfortunate that I'm missing the Irish championships - especially if it turns out to be my last year in athletics - but this way offers me the best chance of hitting Olympic qualification."
McKee competed in the relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney but he missed out on the 2004 Athens Games because of illness.
Meanwhile, Paul Hession achieved a sprint double at the Cork City Sports on Saturday.
The Olympic Games-bound athlete won the 100m in 10.21 ahead of Jamaica's Dwight Thomas and he claimed victory in his specialist 200m in 20.67 ahead of another Jamaican Chris Williams.
Alistair Cragg had a busy afternoon as he finished second in both the 1500m and 3000m.
Cragg, who is intending to run the 1500m and 5000m in Beijing, took second in the metric mile in 3:39.12 which left him behind Kenyan Bernard Kiptum (3:38.70).
Just over an hour later, Cragg returned to the Mardyke track to take second in the 3000m in 7:55.86 which left him over six seconds behind another Kenyan Mike Kigen (7:49.50).
Derval O'Rourke finished second in the 100H in 13.00 which left her .04secs behind Jamaican Andra Bliss.
Other impressive performances include the sprint double by US Virgin Islands athlete Laverne Jones Fennette (11.35 and 22.79) and the 2.30m high jump clearance and 45.59 400m run of Americans James Nieto and Greg Nixon.
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