AUSTRALIAN Olympians John Steffensen, Jana Pittman and Lauren Wells all fell short in the Stawell Gift heats on Sunday.
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The three were all drawcards for the gift.
Steffensen was the backmarker off three metres in his heat of the 550-metre WH Earle Handicap, finishing fifth in a time of 1:12.59 and failing to qualify for the finals.
Pittman - a dual 400 metre hurdles world champion who recently became the first Australian woman to compete at both a Summer and Winter Olympic Games - finished third-last in her heat of the Endura Sports Lorraine Donan 400 Women's Handicap.
She was the backmarker off scratch, and finished in a time of 58 seconds.
Wells also missed out on the finals despite finishing second in her 400-metre heat in a time of 54.22 seconds.
