India's K M Binu got off to a bad start and finished a distant seventh in his men's 400 metres semi-finals in the athletics competition at the Olympics Games in Athens on Saturday.

Drawn in lane 2, the lanky Indian trailed the frontrunners on the back straight but made up just before the final bend to finish ahead of Matija Sestak of Slovenia in lane number one.

The 24-year-old clocked 45.97 seconds and lost the chance of becoming only the fourth male athlete from the country to advance to an Olympic track final.

Binu had set a national record of 45.48 seconds in the first round while making it to the semi-finals. The previous national mark stood in the name of Paramjit Singh since 2000.

He qualified for the semi-finals after finishing third in his first round heat as one of the eight fastest losers.

The only Indian men to figure in an Olympic track final are Milkha Singh (1960), G S Randhawa (1964) and Sriram Singh (1976).

USA's Derek Brew comfortably won the semi-final heat featuring Binu, clocking 45.05 seconds, while Davian Clarke of Jamaica came in second in 45.27 to qualify for the final.