Sebastian Coe has stepped down from his ambassadorial role with Nike in order to "focus unflinchingly" on his duties as the president of the IAAF.

A Nike ambassador for 38 years, Coe has come under increasing pressure to end the association - for which he reportedly receives £100,000 a year - since taking over as IAAF president in August.

Earlier this week, the two-time Olympic 1500m champion moved to deny claims he lobbied for the 2021 World Championships to be given to the city of Eugene - amid allegations of a conflict of interest.

Yet while he maintained there was no conflict of interest at an IAAF news conference in Monaco on Thursday, Coe did reveal he had opted to walk away from his duties with Nike, in addition to his position with sports marketing agency CSM. He will also stand down as chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) following the 2016 Games in Rio.

"I made a judgement that the issues that I've been dealing with in the last few weeks - the reform of the organisation [the IAAF, in the wake of a corruption scandal], the challenges faced by the organisation across two or three fronts - need an unflinching focus and the noises off are frankly a distraction, I concede that," said Coe.

"I felt it was extremely important to make sure I was in a position at all times to deal with that.

"I sought the view of the [IAAF] ethics committee - they were very clear that it would have been possible to continue [as a Nike ambassador].

"I don't believe it was a conflict of interest. But it [my decision] was purely on the basis that I felt that I needed to be able to focus unflinchingly on the challenges ahead with my colleagues and particularly the executive teams here at our headquarters.

"It had become a distraction - there's no doubt about that.

"The current noise around it is not good for the IAAF and it is not good for Nike. It is clear perception and reality have become horribly mangled."