Former 400m hurdles world champion Greene retires

Dai Greene won 400m hurdles gold at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu

Former world, European and Commonwealth 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene has retired from competitive athletics at the age of 38.

The Welshman has already been involved in mentoring other athletes and said his next step is coaching.

Greene enjoyed great success in both 400m hurdles and 400m, with an Olympic title the only thing missing from an impressive track career.

The pinnacle was 400m hurdles gold at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, having helped Great Britain claim 4x400m relay silver two years earlier in Berlin.

In 2010 Greene claimed both the European and Commonwealth crowns, triumphing for Great Britain in Barcelona before winning gold for Wales in Delhi.

But a string of injury problems meant Greene was never able to return to those heights.

In 2018, he said he had been left "bitter and frustrated" after surgery to repair a minor hernia meant he lost five years of his career because of complications with a hernia mesh.

"Despite my best efforts over the past few years, I have been unable to participate in one more competitive season in the sport," Greene wrote on social media.

"The arrival of my daughter in December prompted my decision to stop trying to return to competition.

"My career can be seen as having two halves. By the age of 25 I had won everything in the sport except for the Olympics, yet I feel I never truly fulfilled my potential.

"The years between 2013 and 2016 should have been dedicated to honing my skills and maximising my talent, but a routine surgery gone wrong derailed those dreams.

"Subsequent corrective surgeries meant I was never able to return to my peak performance, though I occasionally caught glimpses of the athlete I once was."