The 34-year-old double leg amputee from Nottingham is barred from the London 2012 Paralympic marathon T46 event - which is for upper limb amputees - because he is deemed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to be in the wrong disability category for the race but his quest for Paralympic gold remains alive in the 200m.

The marathon specialist caused a major shock when he claimed victory over the sprint distance at the Christchurch 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand and despite revealing that the 200 metres is now top priority, he has refused to give up the marathon or split with his coach Liz Yelling, an able-bodied marathon specialist who represented Britain at the last two Olympics.

"The main focus for me now has to be the 200 metres because with the marathon gone, that is the only event I can compete in for London 2012 Paralympic gold," Whitehead told insideworldparasport.

"For the next year and a bit, I will be targeted on London 2012, the 200 metres, the gold medal and the world record in the event.

"But the marathon is my main passion and the event I have come from so any question around my sprint running will always involve an answer involving the marathon.

"If you take away the marathon training I did in New Zealand then I probably wouldn't have become world champion the 200 metres.

"So Liz Yelling is still my coach and she will remain as my coach right up to London 2012.

"We are just going to tweak my training programme, not completely alter it, so I will keep on doing marathons.

"But we are going to put some more sprint work in there so we are basically refining what we did in New Zealand.

"Obviously it was successful in New Zealand so there is no need to drastically change things but you don't ever sit on your laurels, you have to try and improve."

Whitehead added that his life has changed considerably since his gold medal success in Christchurch with far more interest from the media and sponsors but he said he is as focused as ever on running in his bid for London 2012 glory.

"Media-wise, things have really ramped up for me since I won gold in New Zealand in January," he said.


"I am doing a lot more interviews than I did before and there is also lots of interest from sponsors.

"Since New Zealand, I have also signed up with BP and Powerade which is great.

"But for me, that is all a bonus and my mind is 100 percent on running and working hard towards London 2012.

"The 200 metres is an event I'm still learning and I need to keep working at it if I want to win gold in the event at the Paralympics.

"I want to get as much out of the event as I possibly can and at the same time I really want to inspire people to take up sport by watching me."

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