MARCH heptathlete Louise Hazel has announced her retirement from the sport.

The 27-year-old enjoyed an illustrious 12-year career, memorably winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal in Delhi in 2010.

She finished 27th in last summer’s London Olympics but has since struggled with injury and feels the time is right for a new challenge.

She said: “I really enjoyed last season and the Olympic Games was well worth all the years of sacrifice.

“I’m retiring from the heptathlon but I’m not ruling out other sports, I just feel I can’t carry on in that discipline,

“It’s always hard to let go but I have so many other things to be thinking about and so much I want to share so I feel it’s the right time to move on.

“I want to give other sports a go, maybe golf, and hopefully that will provide the same rollercoaster that heptathlon did.”

Hazel, who is a qualified personal trainer, is launching The Podium Effect, an online fitness and nutrition programme.

She said: “I qualified as a personal trainer and thought everyone wants to train with an Olympian.

“Then I thought surely that’s not possible – but it is.

“I’ve been devising a programme that will get people into fitness and stop them getting ill. It’s about people who haven’t done much fitness or are returning to exercise.

“I feel healthy activity should be accessible and this is what I am putting my energy into at the moment.”

She will also act as a running ambassador for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), a cause she is close to.

She said: “My dad passed away in 2008 after a heart condition and my nan had a quadruple heart bypass so I’m taking part in the Blenheim Palace 10km on October 6 in support of the BHF.”

To donate to The British Heart Foundation go to justgiving.com/TeamHazel.