 Richard Buck was in top form at the UK Championships |
North Yorkshire athlete Richard Buck set a new personal best in the final of the 400 metres at the UK Championships and World Trials in Sheffield. Buck, 21, posted 46.53 seconds to win the final and break the personal best he had just set in his semi-final.
The City of York runner said: "It's great to be running personal bests as easily as I am doing at the moment."
The next target for Buck is to win the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham on 16 February.
Everything went to plan in Sheffield for the Pickering athlete, who is coached by his grandfather Geoff Barraclough.
He clocked a moderate time of 47.72 in winning his opening heat, but stepped up a gear for his semi-final.
He explained: "I wanted to make sure that I was going into the final with a strong lane draw," and a personal best of 46.85 achieved that.
 | It's great to be running personal bests as easily as I am doing at the moment |
Buck beat Steve Green in the final to clinch the gold medal, and confirm his place at the World Indoor Championships in Spain.
He added: "I hope there's more to come at Birmingham at the weekend. I'd like to think I could shave off a few more tenths (of a second) off the time."
Buck's longer term aims are to win a medal in Valencia and to be selected for the Great Britain team for the Beijing Olympics.
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