Nicola Sanders admits that injuries have taken their toll as the Olympian announces her retirement from athletics.
Sanders marked her arrival as a truly world-class athlete in 2007 when she followed up her European indoor 400m gold – in which she set a UK record – with silver at the World Championships in Osaka behind fellow Brit Christine Ohuruogu.
However, while Ohuruogu went on to claim 400m gold at the Beijing Olympics a year later, Sanders failed to reach the final.
Since then injuries have never been far away and although she had intended to run both the 400m and 800m this year she last took to the track competitively in August 2013.
And at the age of 32 Sanders has decided to hang up her spikes, telling Athletics Weekly: “I haven’t really competed over the last couple of years and even before that I was struggling with various injuries that stopped me performing at the level I could.
“With all that going in your head you can’t really face going through all the training not being able to compete anymore.”
© Sportsbeat 2014