Sharlene Mawdsley admitted it was "devastating" not to be able to show her PB form after a hamstring injury forced her withdrawal from the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
The Tipperary sprinter had run an impressive final leg as Ireland finished fifth in the the 4x400 mixed relay on Thursday but she was not to appear in her heat in the individual 400m this morning after a hamstring issue worsened over the course of the morning.
"It just wasn't meant to be today which is obviously really devastating. After last night, I had so much confidence.
"It's not often I would back myself to think I could make the final and I really believed I could. It's hard."
Mawdsley, a gold medallist in the mixed relay at last year's Europeans, confirmed, if there were any doubt, that she would not be part of the women's 4x400m relay team on Sunday evening.
"I'd say it'll be a flight home ASAP. I wish the girls all the best and I'll be cheering on the rest of the team for the rest of the weekend."
Lavin powers into 60m final; 800m duo advance
With the World Championships in Tokyo in the autumn the priority for this year, Mawdsley was wary of doing anything that cause further damage to her hamstring and said an MRI scan would tell more.
"My hamstring was a bit tight yesterday. I had physio just before I went into the call room and that settled it. I felt really good yesterday after (that) and this morning as well.
"But it just persisted in the warm-up today. If I went onto the track, it would have gotten worse and worse and I didn't want to tear it completely. I'll have to wait for an MRI and an ultrasound to see what the actual damage is.
"September was always the focus for us. We never really put an emphasis on indoors but when you are in good shape, you want to show the world.
"At least I got to do it a little bit yesterday. My split time was really fast and showed I was definitely in PB shape. It's just devastating not to be able to show that today."
