TOM Lancashire will represent Great Britain for the first time in more than two and a half years tonight.

The Bolton athlete has been selected to run the 3,000m in the European Indoor Championships in Prague.

Lancashire is back approaching his top form after several years of injury and illness problems hampered a career which saw him run in all the world's top athletics events including the Olympics and be a fixture on the Diamond League circuit for globally elite athletes.

A successful winter of cross-country and a switch of coach has seen the Bolton Harrier return to something like his old form as he looks towards competing at next years Olympics.

His initial target is the World Championships in August where he will be looking to secure a place in the GB team at 5,000m – a step up in distance from 1,500m in which he has made his name.

The 29-year-old former Turton High School student from Bromley Cross admits he did not expect to be called up for the trip to Prague.

"It was a nice surprise to be picked," he said.

"I wasn't expecting it because there are three in the team and two guys beat me in the trials and another beat me in another race.

"I was probably expecting him to get the third place ahead of me but he didn't compete in the trials so that may be the reason he didn't get picked.

"My target was to run the qualifying time, which I did, and I'll go there looking to be as competitive as I can.

"It isn't one of my main goals if I'm honest, I don't usually do a lot of indoor competition, but it will be great to be back representing Great Britain again.

"The last time was the outdoor European Championships in 2012. I've worked hard to get back to where I am and with me moving up to 5,000m doing races like this against top class runners will be to my benefit."

Lancashire runs in the heats tonight with the final tomorrow.