BENJAMIN OUT OF GAMES
By Liz Byrnes, PA Sport
World Championship 400 metres finalist Tim Benjamin has withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games because of injury.
The 23-year-old, who came fifth at the World Championships in Helsinki last year, would have been a potential medallist at the Games in Melbourne but a groin injury has ruled him out.
Benjamin, who trains under Tony Lester in Windsor, missed a significant amount of winter training because of persistent injury problems and has not been able to do the speed training necessary to do himself justice in Australia.
Benjamin said: "I have only been able to train sporadically at 50 per cent for the past two months and - although I am aerobically fit - I will not have enough time to do the necessary speed work to compete at the top level in Melbourne.
"I have been struggling with a neural problem in my left adductor but I hope my worst injuries are now behind me.
“Running for Wales means a lot to me and I am very disappointed to be unable to go to Australia. I need to use the next four months to get back to full fitness before the European Championships.”
It comes after a 2005 season which saw the Cardiff-born athlete consolidate his place as Great Britain’s number one 400m runner - despite suffering from illness and injury.
Benjamin suffered a knee injury before a back injection went wrong, resulting in fluid leaking from his spinal column. The problem confined him to bed for weeks, including two in hospital, with the Welshman suffering constant headaches and vomiting.
As a result, the Belgrave Harrier did not train between January and May in the build-up to the season, which underlined the extent of his success as he beat Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner at Crystal Palace in July and smashed the 45-second barrier in the process.
Benjamin then finished as the highest-placed British male in an individual final in Helsinki before again lowering his personal best to 44.56 seconds en-route to second place at the IAAF World Athletics Final.
Benjamin had also hoped to reverse the result of the 4x400m relay at the Games in Manchester four years ago where the England squad just edged out Wales for victory.
Director of coaching at Welsh Athletics Phil Banning said: "To lose such a talented athlete from the athletics squad is a massive blow and our best wishes go out to Tim at this time.
“We are confident he is getting the full support necessary to ensure that his recovery process is swift and that he will be back to compete against the best in the world later this year.”
Scottish 400 metre hurdler Nick Stewart has also been forced to withdraw from the Games.
The Newham & Essex athlete has been struggling with a back injury.
Scotland’s Chef de Mission, Paul Bush, said: "We are extremely
disappointed that Nick has had to withdraw from the team, but is important he
resolves his current injury issues.
"We wish him a speedy recovery.’’
