IRISH MARATHON RUNNER Stephen Scullion has announced that he will not be taking part at the Olympics.
Scullion secured qualification for the Tokyo Games last year after finishing fifth in the Houston Marathon where he took nine seconds off his personal best, coming home in a time of 2:11:52.
Last October, he ran the second-fastest marathon time in Irish athletics history as he smashed his personal best by over two minutes in London.
His finishing time of 2:09:49 to take 11th place was only 34 seconds slower than John Treacy’s time at the Boston Marathon in 1988.
The 32-year-old also briefly retired from running last summer but later reversed his decision and said that his announcement was “rash.”
I will not be going to Tokyo Olympics, & until I feel in a better place with mental health I am taking some time to myself. I apologise to anybody who has supported me until now and feels lets down. Sometimes in life you have to do what is right, and I need to find a happy place
— Stephen Scullion (@scullion262) July 10, 2021
“I will not be going to Tokyo Olympics, & until I feel in a better place with mental health I am taking some time to myself,” Scullion wrote on Twitter.
“I apologise to anybody who has supported me until now and feels lets down. Sometimes in life you have to do what is right, and I need to find a happy place”.
Paul Pollock and Kevin Seaward will now be Ireland’s representatives in the men’s marathon.
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