Twickenham-based Steph Twell has pulled out of Great Britain’s team for the European U23 Championships, being held in Kaunus, Lithuania, later this month.

Instead, the St Mary’s College student has prioritised her preparations for next month’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

Having been selected to run in the 5,000m in Kaunus, Twell’s schedule would have meant flying to Lithuania two days after this weekend’s UK Championships and World Trials in Birmingham and not returning until the following Monday.

The world junior 1,500m champion feels she will be better served by concentrating on training during that week instead.

Coach Mick Woods said: “It is always an honour and a privilege for Steph to represent her country, but there are more important targets this summer.

“Having looked at her training schedule, we have reconsidered.

“The European U23s would have been a huge interruption to training and so we have decided to give this one a miss and focus our energies on Berlin.”