FORMER European 400m hurdles champion Rhys Williams will be out to put a nightmare ten months behind him when he makes his return to the track in Newport tomorrow.

The 31-year-old son of Wales rugby legend JJ Williams is launching his season at the Welsh Athletics Regional Championships South and East Wales event at Newport Stadium, Spytty Park.

Williams, who won European gold in Helsinki in 2012 and represented Great Britain at the London Olympics that year, will be back on the track for the first time since running in the Grand Prix meeting in Glasgow on July 11 last year.

It was at that meeting that he failed a doping test and subsequently missed the Commonwealth Games and received a four-month suspension.

In applying their sanction, UK Anti-Doping accepted that Williams' positive test was due to taking a contaminated supplement and that he had not knowingly cheated.

“All of that is now behind me and I can’t wait to get back on the track and into a racing situation,” said the Bridgend-born athlete.

“I’ve run at the Welsh regional championships before and I don’t know why more athletes don’t use these events to easy their way into the season.

“Training has been going well and my focus is firmly fixed on qualifying for the British team for the World Championships in Beijing.

“I’ve got five or six races in the diary in the build-up to the World Trials on July 5.

“I’ve never been more determined to try to win a British vest and the experiences of the past year have only served to make me mentally stronger.

“I know it’s going to be a really tough battle to qualify for Beijing, but that’s the goal.

“It will be the first two over the line at the trials and then the third place will be at the discretion of the selectors.”

Williams has used the Welsh Regional Championships to launch his last two seasons, opening with victories over 400 metres in Cardiff and Newport, and was second over 200 metres in Cardiff in 2009.

“There are lots of good junior athletes coming through and I know I’m going to have to be running at my very best by the time the World Trials come around,” he added.

“I’m not going to set the world alight this weekend, but it will be great to put down a marker, especially after being way from the track for so long. There was a time when I thought this might never be possible.

“I’m really excited and I’m coming into this first race after a massive block of hard training. Nothing has changed in my coaching team or the way I prepare, so I looking forward to getting back out there and running hard and fast.”

Williams will be racing at 10.45am tomorrow in Newport at the start of the event, which will feature more than 500 athletes in all age groups.