Commonwealth 1500m champion and Olympic bronze medallist David Davies has withdrawn form the European Championships just over three weeks out form the Budapest competition. The 21 year old has only just returned to full training following an operation to remove an abscess on his left ankle.
That had been a result of a longstanding blood infection which, it was thought, he contracted whiles on a training camp in Australia ahead of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. It didn’t stop him winning there, but eventually led to the operation that has now scuppered his European title ambitions.
Coach Dave Haller told SwimNews.com “He’s missed too much training to consider racing in Budapest” despite keeping fit with an extensive land work programme in the interim period, consisting of “ab work, cycling with one leg, running with one leg, rowing machine with one leg – that’s the kind of boy he is.” Despite the setback, Haller is circumspect “If this was going to happen this was probably the best time. It’s been good for him to have a bit of a rest. He’ll bounce back and probably be better for it.”
Russian Yuri Prilukov is now the firm favourite for the metric mile event, having finished fourth in Athens and Montreal. Davies, meanwhile now turns his attention to next year’s world championships in Melbourne.