Croydon Harrier Martyn Rooney admitted he produced a poor performance in Berlin after failing to progress to the World Championship 400m final, writes Tom Oldfield.

The 22-year-old, who has had his preparations severely hampered by a hamstring injury, finished a disappointing seventh in the second semi-final, trailing home in a time of 45.98 seconds.

Rooney had arrived in Berlin hoping to progress to the final and challenge for a medal after finishing sixth at the Beijing Olympic Games last summer.

But,after missing a number of weeks of training during the summer, Rooney admitted he had nothing left when it mattered most in his semi-final.

“That was just a really poor run – it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“It was poor by anyone’s standards.

“It wasn’t good enough out there and I’ve just missed too much training coming into this week.

“I had high hopes before the injury but it set me back too much and I needed more time to return to my best form.

“Before the race I was thinking about getting through to the final but it just didn’t come together.

“But I didn’t commit to the race and it was game over after that.

"I couldn't get back into it and it's really disappointing.”

American LaShawn Merritt won Rooney’s semi-final in a time of 44.37 seconds, with Trindad’s Renny Quow taking the second qualification spot.

Rooney admitted it's back to the drawing board this winter as a busy 2010, which will include the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the European Championships in Barcelona, ticks ever closer.

The Croydon ace revealed he was almost walking down the final 100m in Berlin but believes he will be back to his best for the weekend and Britain’s attempt to medal in the 4x400m.

“I’ll go away and have a good think about all this and then hopefully I’ll be back out there later in the week ready to go for the relay,” he said.

“I’ve only had eight weeks on a bike as I wasn’t allowed to run and it wasn’t enough to be honest.

"But I guess I was probably expecting too much of myself.

“Even with the injury I still expected to make the final though.

“I thought I started fine in my individual event but then I was jogging down the back straight and it was all too slow.

“I think I’ve got the pedigree to bounce back from this and help the team medal in the relay but I’ll have to wait and see on that.”

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