Former Common-wealth and European 400metres champion Iwan Thomas is planning a "fresh start" to his athletics career.

The 29-year-old Welshman will begin his season in Bedford at the weekend and insists he is hungrier than ever as he prepares to compete over his specialist distance at the UK Inter-Counties Championships.

Thomas, who began using a new coach Nick Dakin last year, is determined to regain the form which saw him establish himself in 1998 as one of the world's top one-lap runners.

Apart from his two victories that summer in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships, Thomas' golden year also saw him thrash global opposition when winning the World Cup final in Johannesburg.

Thomas took over the mantle of British number one from Team Solent's Olympic silver medallist Roger Black, but things rapidly turned sour.

A serious ankle problem prevented him competing the following season, when so much had been expected from him.

Then Thomas, who split from long-term coach Mike Smith in Southampton to join Dakin at Loughborough's High Perfor-mance Centre seven months ago, missed out on an individual place in both the 2000 Olympic Games and the following year's World Championships.

Last year a complete slump in form saw him miss the defence of both his Commonwealth and European titles.

"I am too proud to be an also-ran," said Thomas, back home in England after a month's warm weather training in Los Angeles.

"I haven't raced yet and wasn't planning one until Norway at the end of the month.

"But I really want to get a 400m under my belt. I feel confident I can make a fresh start this season.

"Last year with all the injuries, I wasn't enjoying my athletics and my life was crap. It was then I decided if I was to continue my career, I had to move on."

Thomas insists he still has the greatest respect for former coach Smith, the Team Solent chairman, who took him almost to the top.

"He was brilliant but with the constant setbacks and having to train on my own in Southampton, I felt if I was to continue in a sport I love so much, I had to move on.

"It was a tough decision to make but it has been justified. The facilities here (in Lough-borough) are exceptional with the medical backing where I can have treatment twice a week as part of my programme.''

Adding a note of caution, Thomas added: "Don't expect too much too soon. At the end of the day I believe I can get back to the very top.

"But it's a two-year programme. Don't expect me to be running times of 44.5seconds this summer.

"Athens and the Olympic Games is the target and now I am settling in with a new coach, I know I can get there."