TROWBRIDGE sprinter Danny Talbot has conceded defeat in his battle to get fit for the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.

The Trowbridge Tornado is taking a break from the sport after further injury problems with his ankle and Achilles tendon so has ruled himself out of contention.

“It has been close to four years struggling with injury as these problems first started after the World Championships in London (2017),” said Talbot.

“I have not been healthy since then so while it was hard to pull myself out of contention for the Olympics I have come to terms with the decision pretty quickly really.

“Of course, it is a great shame but I feel my previous successes have made it easier. I have been to two Olympic Games and got a World Championships gold medal (with the 4x100m relay team from 2017).

“That has made it easier to accept.”

Talbot had got in a reasonable block of training last year but the decision to postpone the Olympics in Tokyo for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic appeared to have favoured him, giving him more time to recover and return to peak condition.

Unfortunately, as he increased the training workload the problems resurfaced.

“I tried to get healthy for the three months training trip to America in January (with his new coach Vince Anderson, based in Texas) but it never really settled down,” added Talbot.

“I did one race indoors and one outdoors over there but I reached the stage where I could barely train and definitely couldn’t work in spikes.

“But it is Olympic year so I had to try and race, but as soon as I put my foot down I knew I could not do anything.

“At that point I just could not handle going through major rehab again so after talking to Christian Malcolm (British Athletics head coach) I decided to take some time out and allow myself time to properly recover.”

Malcolm, a former top British sprinter himself, advised Talbot to take a complete break from the sport to facilitate a full recovery and to re-set his sights on the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

“I went such a long time in my career without any injuries and now I am having some hard times but I wouldn’t change a thing,” stressed Talbot.

“I am still very confident about the future.”

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