BOLTON track starlet Chris Mulvaney is closing in on a place in the Commonwealth Games.

The middle distance runner is on the brink of gaining the qualifying time for both the 800m and 1,500m at his United States base.

Still only 20, the Arkensas University student is speeding up at a rate which could see him get the 800m qualifying time of 1.48 and 1500m mark of 3.41 in time for the July Games in Manchester.

He is currently just 14 hundredths of a second outside the 800m qualifying time and 1.34 seconds adrift of the time needed for a place at the longer distance.

With the outdoor season in full swing across the Atlantic, Chris, who left his family home in Heaton for the States 18 months ago, is hopeful of achieving his targets.

He plans to returns to Britain to compete for a place in the three-man England team at the Games trials which take place on the new Manchester track on June 15 and 16.

If he competes in the Commonwealth Games he is unlikely to be fazed by the big crowd as he recently competed in the century-old Penn Relays in the States watched by 39,000 on the first day and almost 51,000 on the second, many of whom were there to see American sprint legends Maurice Greene and Marion Jones.