A BOUT of illness could lead to Commonwealth Games glory for Tom Lancashire.

Bolton’s middle distance star opened his track season in style on Tuesday night, stepping down to 800m and clocking an impressive 1min 48.4secs.

The 1,500m specialist was second in the Trafford Grand Prix meeting, just 0.6sec behind Britain’s number one 800m runner, and fellow Olympic Games and World Championships star, Michael Rimmer.

His performance delighted the Bolton Harrier and his coach, especially considering the unhelpful conditions on the night and Lancashire’s bad luck with illness through the winter.

The 24-year-old’s main priority this season is to represent Great Britain at the European Championships in Barcelona in July, with his attendance at the Commonwealth Games in India in October dependant upon how he is feeling after a long, hard season.

The likelihood of him going to the Commonwealths, where he would run for England, might have been increased by the two months he was sidelined by illness recently.

After feeling weak and tired during the cross-country season he had blood tests which revealed he had a vitamin D deficiency.

He had to rest in February and March when he would normally be training hard in readiness for the track season.

But, while it set his preparations back a couple of months, it meant he had a late start to the track season which could keep him fresher for the Commonwealths.

“That could be the case. We’ll have to wait and see,” said the Bromley Cross star.

He was also pleased to run so well on Tuesday night at a distance he specialised in up to three years ago before turning his focus to the 1,500m at which he has run at the Olympics and World Championships in the last two years. “It was a fairly solid run and I was pleased with it,” he said. “My coach was very positive about it.

“I would have liked a bit of a quicker time but it was my first race and it is still early for me. I lost six weeks in the winter when I couldn’t train properly and I hadn’t done any specific training for 800m.

“I finished second behind Mike Rimmer who’s obviously a very good runner. I got taken by someone else with 200m to go and then came back and took him with 100m to go which shows I’m strong.

“I’d have to run a couple of seconds faster if I’m going to compete at 800m, but I think I can do that because it was quite cold and breezy and I’ve still got plenty of work to do in training.”

Lancashire is still planning his summer schedule with another Trafford Grand Prix outing later this month a possibility before starting the Diamond League season – the successor to the Golden League – in Oslo early next month.