EAST Lancashire’s Olympic hammer star Sophie Hitchon has expressed her disappointment after learning that her event will again be excluded from the prestigious Diamond League series next year.

The 21-year-old Blackburn Harrier, from Burnley, is a rising star of the sport after breaking the British record to reach the women’s hammer final at the Olympics last month.

Hitchon now hopes to continue her progress and compete for medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships in the years to come, but she will have to sit out the Diamond League once more in 2013.

Aside from the Olympics and the World Championships, the highest profile athletics meetings each year are in the Diamond League series, which also brings lucrative financial rewards for the winners.

But, with all events taking place on one night, not every athletics discipline is included in the series.

Fellow Blackburn Harrier and Olympic star Holly Bleasdale has competed in the pole vault in the Diamond League this year but Hitchon has had to miss the events because the hammer is not currently included.

Patrick Magyar, vice president of the Diamond League, has now said in an interview that it will not be introduced next year despite a campaign for its inclusion.

Hitchon tweeted yesterday: “Today it was announced that the hammer throw will once again be excluded from the diamond league #disappointed.”