TOM Lancashire hopes running against the fastest men in the world will bring the best out of him today.

The 25-year-old from Bolton lines up in the 1,500m in the Diamond League meeting at Gateshead at 5.40pm which will be televised live on BBC 2.

He will be up against five of the best 10 runners in the world this year, including the top two, Kenyans Augustine Choge and Asbel Kiprop. They have both have run 3 minutes 32 seconds this season, with the other three all running under 3:34.00, ensuring the fastest race Lancashire has been in this year.

There is an intriguing domestic interest in the race, too, with six British runners in the field, including Andy Baddeley and Colin McCourt who will compete for Great Britain at the European Championships alongside Lancashire at the end of the month.

While the Bolton Harrier from Bromley Cross is looking forward to getting into a world class race for the first time this year, he is regarding it predominantly as a stepping stone towards performing well at the Europeans in Barcelona.

“It’s a world-class field and it’s going to be fast,” said Lancashire who will have the chance of getting near his personal best of 3:34.29 if the race goes as expected.

“I am just going to try and focus on racing well and not concentrate on time. If you run well in races like this the time will come. There will be a pacemaker who will make it a fast first lap and it should be about 1:52.00 for 800m so the field will be quite strung out.

“I’ll try to get in the mix with the top runners in the world and try to finish strongly.

“It will be nice to get in a race like this and put myself up there against the best in the world and see what I can do.

“But my focus is the European Championships so I just want to make sure I am sharp for that.”