Lisa Dobriskey will aim for a gold medal in the European Championships this summer before she even thinks about defending her Commonwealth Games crown.

The 26-year-old’s coach, George Gandy, says it is unclear whether the Commonwealth 1,500m champion will even travel to the games in terror-threatened Delhi in October, despite the runner herself insisting she wants to compete.

Gandy insists the European Championships in Barcelona in July are the priority for the year, and said after Dobriskey’s stunning World Championship silver in Berlin last August that gold is a legitimate target.

He said: "Having finished second in the World Championships last year we have high expectations as far as the European Championships are concerned.

"All being well, and on the understanding that everything goes really well between now and then, we would like her to win. The second level of achievement would be for her to be in the medals."

Gandy added: "At this stage the Commonwealth Games has to be less of a priority than the European Championships.

"We are not even sure if she will be going. Lisa obviously wants to go and defend her title but she will only be going if she is in such good form that she simply has to go, or perhaps if she has not performed as well as she wanted and has a point to prove.

"And her participation will only happen if she is physically ready for it, and of course that is if England are sending a team at all. There are lots of factors."