WITH his first British Championships gold medal around his neck Danny Talbot was quick to assert that the best is yet to come, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The 23-year-old is already looking to the future with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow just three weeks away and then the European Championships in Zurich starting a little over a week after that.

For Talbot, that represents the real business end of the summer and he will go into both those events with his confidence at an all-time high after brushing aside the challenges of Adam Gemili and James Ellington to win the 200m in Birmingham.

“I am definitely looking to come away with a medal from both the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships and hopefully gold,” said Talbot.

“I am currently ranked second in Europe behind Christoph Lemaitre so that is looking good at the moment and I am really looking forward to it.

“It has been a long, hard winter and winning on Saturday is a good start but it is just a stepping stone.”

While Talbot is understandably eager to look to the future one shouldn’t underestimate the significance of his win on Saturday.

It was his fourth appearance in the senior championships and coach Dan Cossins had told him on the eve of the event that it was time for him to deliver having previously finished eighth, fifth and fourth between 2010 and 2012.

“It was time for Danny to win one of these titles,” said Cossins.

“The days are now gone when he could be favourite but then get lost in the pack and say it is just a learning curve. He is now the No 1 in the UK.”

Talbot didn’t disagree as he knows he has under-performed in previous championships but on Saturday he executed his race perfectly and his time of 20.42secs was only just outside his personal best of 20.36secs and was the second best time of his career, which was impressive as the race was held in cool, wet conditions and into a headwind.

“I didn’t think about being ranked number one but just about winning and executing my race right,” added Talbot.

“It is all well and good running fast times but it is about winning titles and it feels great to have beaten a top quality field. It really is amazing and the race was such good fun.”

Talbot believes the winning time was worth low 20 seconds – he even eased up towards the finish as he had the race won – and is confident that faster times are within his range this summer.

Coach Cossins said: “Birmingham is not renowned as the fastest of tracks for sprinters but Zurich is quick so hopefully Danny can nail one there in the final and come away with a medal and a fast time.

“He can win medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the Europeans and if he does that then I am sure he will also run a very fast time.

“We have enjoyed this moment and celebrated with a glass of champagne because they don’t come around very often but Danny is far from finished yet.”

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