THE coach behind Trowbridge sprint king Danny Talbot says that the 20-year-old is the most talented sprinter he’s ever worked with and has the potential to break the British 200m record.

Talbot has enjoyed a blistering start to the outdoor season, which has seen him fly to the top of the UK 200m rankings after running 20.54secs and earn a call-up to the Great Britain senior team for the 200m and 4x100m relay for this weekend’s European Team Championships in Stockholm.

His Corsham-based coach Dan Cossins, 27, is a former international sprinter who only retired from competing himself in 2010. Cossins raced alongside former World Indoor champion Jason Gardener and current GB sprinter Craig Pickering and revealed that a chance meeting led to him becoming Talbot’s coach.

“Both our dads are keen golfers and they met each other and got talking,” said Cossins, who won a silver medal in the 4x400m relay at the 2005 European Indoor Championships in Madrid.

“I was about 21 and I was looking to do a bit of coaching so I started working with Danny.

“A year-and-a-half ago at a competition in Bedford he ran faster than I ever did and that’s when I thought it was time to retire and concentrate on becoming a coach.”

Cossins runs the Team Breakthrough performance centre in Box and also trains with Talbot at the University of Bath.

“I’ve seen Jason Gardener and Craig Pickering and I think that he (Talbot) is more talented than them.

“Coaching is my career now and working with Danny is always really exciting for me.

“He’s capable of doing anything he wants and he should be aiming to run under 20 seconds and be going for the British record.

“I always say ‘this is what you should be aiming for’ and he just smashes those targets that I set him.

“He’s gone on now to being thought about for the Olympics and being invited to race Usain Bolt – it’s not bad for a skinny kid from Trowbridge.”