Deakes officially pulled out yesterday of the 50km walk in Berlin.

It comes after the 31-year-old was forced to pull out of that event in last year's Beijing Olympics with a hamstring injury.

His hamstring required surgery to reattach a tendon to the bone and he spent the final six months of last year in rehabilitation.

But since starting training in late December, Deakes has been working hard for the past six months with just a few minor hiccups. He was on track to make Berlin, where he had an automatic entry as the reigning 50km world champion.

This week though he started to have a few problems.

He couldn't get through sessions last Sunday, Monday and Wednesday with a tight hip.

After discussions with his wife Antoinette, coach Craig Hilliard and his father, Deakes decided on Thursday morning to pull out.

It wasn't that he felt he couldn't compete but Deakes didn't feel he would be able to do his best.

''To a certain point of view I could have probably gone there and finished the race that said I haven't done a lot of long walks and that's absolutely essential to walk 50km, it's a race where you can't hide at all,'' Deakes said. ''I don't think I could go in and roll in at 15th or 20th spot, it wouldn't be good for me personally and that would probably be it for me and I don't want that to be in that situation. I want to go on next year and I want to do well ... staying at home and getting some training done is the best situation for that.''

Deakes plans a return to competition at the race walking World Cup in May next year, followed by the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. But he says the London Olympics in 2012 are slowly creeping into his view.

While 12 months ago the world record holder thought the 2012 games were unlikely, he's hoping a year without the wear and tear of racing will give him more time.

''All my life I've dreamed about being an Olympic champion and I had what I foresaw as a great opportunity last year, I would hate to be 20 years down the track and not have achieved what I wanted to out of my sporting career,'' he said