LONDON CALLING: Wiltshire sprinter on Olympic radar (From Swindon Advertiser)

LONDON CALLING: Wiltshire sprinter on Olympic radar

8:10am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Local

THE early-season form of Olympic hopeful Danny Talbot has already captured the attention of UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee, as the Trowbridge sprinter targets the defence of his UK 200m indoor title this weekend.

The 20-year-old helped Great Britain and Northern Ireland clinch victory at the recent Aviva International match in Glasgow, the Trowbridge Tornado beating world 100m bronze medallist Kim Collins to win the 200m in a time of 21.17 seconds.

His eye-catching performance earned praise from van Commenee, the head of UK Athletics, but Talbot’s next big test will come this weekend at the Aviva Indoor World Trials and UK Championships, at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield.

“Charles came over to congratulate me and he was complimentary,’’ said Talbot of his Glasgow effort.

“I think it is good for me and all the younger athletes on the team to show people live on television, who don’t necessarily know about us, what we can do.’’ Coached by Corsham-based Dan Cossins, Talbot smashed his personal best to win the 200m at last year’s UK Championships in 20.89.

He added: “If I can repeat that and beat my PB in Sheffield I will be very happy, and that would really set me up for the outdoor season.

“It’ll be a good way to see where I’m at and where I need to go from there.

“Hopefully I can keep on improving.’’ The subsequent World Indoor Championships do not feature the 200m, so Talbot is then likely to tackle the British Student Championships for Bath University and will then call time on his indoor season.

“It probably works well for me as Dan (Cossins) didn’t want me to be racing too much indoors in Olympic year, and wants me to get back into training and focus on the outdoors,” explained Talbot “I have already done well but if I can improve more over 200m that will be a great start to the year.”