Allen, 28, won the European Cup as part of the Great Britain squad in France on Sunday.

He is currently ranked as Britain's number one javelin thrower and although he was disappointed with his own performance at the weekend he is confident there's much more to come.

The former Dalriada pupil came seventh in the javelin in the Premier Division European Cup at Annency, France.

The Northern Ireland record holder produced 70.63m as part of the GB & NI Team which finished top of their league to claim gold.

But that was some way short of his personal best of 79.55m and he admitted afterwards: "There's no excuses, I just wasn't good enough.

"It was a great experience but I was very disappointed with my performance. I wasn't nervous or anything like that I just didn't perform.

"It was my worst performance this year, if I'd thrown like I have been this season then I'd have placed in the top two so it was annoying from that point of view.

"But to win a gold medal as part of the British team was fantastic and something to remember.

"I knew we were leading going into the last few events and I was able to keep an eye on how the other British guys were doing in their events between throws.

"There was a really good atmosphere in the arena, bands playing and that sort of thing. It was all good fun but not enough to make you scared or nervous."

Allen, who works at Loughborough University, now plans to postpone all competitions in favour of rest and training ahead of the biggest day of his season next month.

He will be the javelin favourite going into the British trials for selection to compete in this year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

There are two standards to achieve for qualification for the games and Michael is confident he will throw the 'A' Standard of 81m at some point this season - he just hopes it will come before the Olympics.

"I haven't thought about the Olympic Games yet," he told Times Sport. "I've just tried to block it out of my head and concentrate on throwing well.

"If I can do that at the trials then there's a good chance I'll be going to Beijing which would obviously be a fantastic achievement.

"I still haven't thrown anywhere near what I know I can yet, the only difference between now and a few seasons ago is when I'm off the pace now I'm still throwing a good five metres further.

"That's a good sign and I know I will throw 81m this season. Hopefully that will come before Beijing but if it doesn't I want to be throwing consistently around my 'PB' to show the selectors that I am good enough to go to an Olympic Games.

"I'm British number one and that's something that I'm comfortable with. I'm happy to be top of the pile but I will just try to keep improving and then we'll see where that takes me."