Irish marathon runner Stephen Scullion insists his focus on the Olympics after rowing back on a retirement announcement.
The Belfast man appeared to be stepping away from distance running when he said early that the 10km event he won at Down Royal on Saturday would be his last.
He wrote on Twitter: "Today was my last race, I’ve decided to retire. For reasons I’ll talk about in future".
But the 31-year-old said he'd made a "rash decision" and now has Tokyo on his mind again.
"Never drink and tweet," he said
"Sorry for the confusion today, my wee brain is all over the place today. But I’m blown away by the lovely messages of support.
"I know we’re all struggling for now, and I hope things continue to improve. One day at a time. #onward."
"Things got a little too much for me and I made a rash decision to announce some form of retirement," he added.
"Retiring isn't that easy, and I didn't speak to anyone about it.
"I've found training solo tough and I'm used to training camps with coaches, a physio and friends around me 24/7. The answer might be that I don't retire but try my best to relocate somewhere I can have that company/support.
"From the messages I've received it's really lovely to hear that I've inspired people and you've enjoyed following my career until now.
"It's never b****y straightforward with me and having read all the tweets and messages you're all so right and I couldn't retire in peace knowing how close we got to the Olympics and bigger things ahead."
Scullion has previously retired from the sport only to come back stronger than ever, including a personal best in January's Houston Marathon that booked him a ticket to the Olympics.
The runner outlined last week that he was making preparations for a training camp in St Moritz with a view to peaking at next summer's rescheduled games.
But he did admit that motivation had become a struggle with no big races on the immediate horizon due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I'm not just driven by races but big races like the Dublin Marathon or the National Championships," said Scullion last week.
"I made a comeback four years ago and the only thing that kept me going was I knew that in 10 weeks I’d be on the start line at the London Marathon.
"When the Olympics first got cancelled, I thought I handled it pretty well.
"But I think I joked that if I was a fly on the wall and seen myself with bottles of wine and takeaway food, that I’d probably think, 'I don’t think you handled it well'.
"Look, I’m where I am now, we’re coming out the other side, I hope, of the worst of this pandemic."
