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Great Britain’s women’s flag football team missed out on qualifying for the 2028 Olympics as they suffered defeat at the World Championships.<\/b><\/p>\n
The two-time defending European champions<\/a> fought back to take the bronze-medal game to the final play, only for Mexico to clinch a 20-19 win in Dusseldorf, Germany.<\/p>\n That also meant Mexico – the world’s top-ranked team – secured a spot at Los Angeles 2028, when the non-contact version of American football will make its Olympic debut.<\/p>\n GB must wait two years for another chance to earn a spot at LA28.<\/p>\n They got off to a poor start on Sunday as they were intercepted on their first two drives, with the second punished by a touchdown that put Mexico 13-0 up.<\/p>\n An Angelica Tait touchdown saw GB, who are ranked third in the world, get up and running before Mexico struck again to make it 20-6.<\/p>\n Grace Conway almost claimed an interception, which she could have run in for a touchdown, and GB ran out of time on offence as they aimed to cut the score before half-time.<\/p>\n But they closed to within a point through two touchdowns from Emily Kemp – the tournament’s leading scorer – then went for a two-point conversion to take the lead with two minutes left.<\/p>\n Although Kemp caught Jess Allen’s pass at the back of the endzone, her left foot came down just out of bounds, meaning Mexico could run down the clock to seal victory.<\/p>\n “We fell into a bit of a hole,” GB’s head coach Jack Reed told BBC Sport. “The drive at the end of the first half and the drop for the pick-six were unfortunate.<\/p>\n “I knew we’d fight, I knew we weren’t out of it, and we held them scoreless in the second half. But it’s a game of inches and Emily was out by an inch.”<\/p>\n