Ashleigh Nelson has revealed that she has withdrawn from this weekend's British Athletics Championships in order to give herself the best chance of achieving her long-term goals.
The British sprinter will miss the majority of the campaign with an undisclosed injury, but the Stoke-on-Trent athlete hopes that the break will benefit her later in her career.
The 20-year-old told the British Athletics official website: "In the end, it boiled down to whether I was happy to compete this weekend carrying this niggle and not running as fast as I know I can, or sacrificing a huge part of this year to sort it once and for all.
"Although at present I can perform at a certain level, I am not satisfied with running mediocre times or below standard performances at this stage of my career and in line with my continuous development on the world stage.
"I will miss competing as both an individual athlete and as part of the successful British women's relay team, but myself, my coach and my support team have decided that the long-term strategy is most sensible with Rio 2016 and London 2017 being my biggest priority."
Nelson won bronze in the 100m at last year's European Championships.
Darren Plant
