Athletics: Thomas slumps on home soil but raises hopes for Manchester

The reigning European and Commonwealth 400 metres champion Iwan Thomas finished a disappointing sixth as he continued on the comeback trail here last night.

"That was rubbish – terrible, really," admitted Thomas after his run in front of his home crowd at the Welsh Games.

The 28-year-old has been bedevilled by injuries since his golden year in 1998 when he won the European title in Budapest and the Commonwealth Games crown in Kuala Lumpur.

The Welshman's hopes of defending those titles have again been hampered by a hamstring problem this year, and last night was only his third run of the summer.

Thomas knows he is running out of time to qualify for the European event, with a trial in Birmingham this weekend. He said: "The trials have probably come a bit too early for me, but I've still got three weeks to get ready for the Commonwealths in Manchester.

"At the moment it is unrealistic to think I can defend my Games title, but I have always been a man for the big occasion so let's see."

Thomas clocked 47.17 seconds – almost three seconds off his own British record – and was clearly struggling for race sharpness as Australia's Patrick Dwyer won in 46.34.

But there was a more encouraging return from hamstring injury for Wales' Christian Malcolm, the 200m silver medallist in Malaysia four years ago who has also struggled with illness since the European indoors last March.

Malcolm finished second in the 100m in 10.39sec behind America's Olympic relay gold medallist Kenny Brokenburr.

The Newport runner then clocked 21.07 when again second in the 200m to Dominic Demeritte of the Bahamas.

"The rhythm is coming," said Malcolm. "I just need the races."