Jackson out of European Cup

Jackson celebrates his 1999 World Championship win

Colin Jackson has been forced to pull out of Britain's team for this weekend's European Cup in Gateshead.

The 33-year-old world champion withdrew after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring problem while winning a 110m hurdles race in Dortmund.

Jackson, hoping this year to finally win Olympic gold, will undergo extensive physiotherapy in a bid to return to racing before next month's Games trials.

His long-time coach, Malcolm Arnold, said: "There is no point taking any chances at this stage of the season, especially because it is Olympic year.

"Hopefully Colin will get back to racing by the end of July or the beginning of August, in time for the trials. We will just have to see how things go in the next couple of weeks."

Major blow

The Welshman's withdrawal is a major blow to Britain's men's hopes of regaining the European Cup crown they won for the first time at Gateshead in 1989 when Jackson was among the individual winners.

Jackson, who suffered the original injury while weight-lifting on a training trip to Australia last March, was competing for only the second time this season in Germany.

Jackson craves Olympic success

Having won his first race in the match against the United States in Glasgow, he was looking to post a warning time to his rivals in Dortmund after missing meetings in Athens, Rome and Lausanne.

Jackson will visit Gerard Hartmann in Dublin and Hans-Muller Wolfhardt in Munich - specialists who treat many top athletes - in an attempt to get over the hamstring problem.

Comeback

The Bath-based runner completed a remarkable comeback from years of injury nightmares in Seville last August when he became the first Brit to regain a world title.

Jackson, who still holds the world record of 12.91seconds from his first World Championship victory in Stuttgart in 1993, was hoping to use his Spanish triumph as the springboard for a successful Olympic campaign.

This will be his fourth and final attempt to take the Games crown, having won silver in Seoul in 1988 only to see injury thwart his hopes in Barcelona in 1992 and again in Atlanta four years ago.