Martyn Rooney felt he has not fully recovered from injury despite claiming his fifth British men’s 400m title on Sunday in Birmingham.
The 27-year-old Croydon Harrier, who picked up an injury at the Golden Spike Ostrava meeting two weeks ago, beat his main rivals Conrad Williams and Michael Bingham to claim victory in 45.78 seconds.
It guarantees his place in the British team for European Championships in Zurich in August.
He said: “That run was poor. I’m running at 80 to 90 per cent at the moment and I picked up a niggle in Ostrava last week.
“A lesser athlete would have pulled out but it was important to me to win the British title.”
Also at British Championships in Birmingham, Croydon resident James Ellington finished third in men’s 200m final, while Crystal Palace-based Serita Soloman was also third in her women’s 100m hurdles final despite recording a season’s best 13.22secs.
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