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| David Greene has his eyes set on Kriss Akabusi's British 400 hurdles record. |
Great Britain’s SPAR European Team Championships team captain David Greene started the summer with a list of targets and he ticked off one of them when he won the 400m hurdles in Stockholm in a Championships record of 49.12.
He remains unbeaten after three editions of the Championships, a feat only a trio of other athletes other can claim: his compatriot Andy Turner in the 110m hurdles, Spanish distance runner Jesus Espaí±a over 3000m and 5000m and German javelin thrower Christina Obergföll.
Now the 2010 European Athletics Championships 400m hurdles gold medallist, and current Commonwealth Games champion at the discipline, is looking to improve Kriss Akabusi’s British record of 47.82 which has stood since the Olympic Games in 1992.
Akabusi also stands fifth on the European all-time list.
Greene has pencilled in the two British legs of the 2011 Samsung Diamond League - the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix on 10 July and then the Aviva London Grand Prix on 5-6 August - to have two full-bloodied attempts on the long-standing mark.
“I certainly have the British record in my sights now and came really close at the Continental Cup in Split last year,” said Greene, who clocked his personal best of 47.88 when representing Team Europe in Croatia last September.
“I met Kriss Akabusi at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards last year and he knows it won’t be long now! My priority is to win medals, but if I want to be the best, I have to be breaking records and it would be great to do that in front of my home fans in a packed out stadium.
“I saw the crowd’s reaction when Mo Farah broke the European 5000 record at the NIA [National Indoor Arena in Birmingham] back in February and I would love to experience that buzz. The crowd was electric.”
“If I have the whole stadium behind me, I'm confident that I can go out there and really be in with a chance of breaking the record, which has stood now for 19 years.”
Akabusi himself has gone on record as saying that he believes Greene can eclipse him, and that there would certainly be no hard feelings.
“He can break my record, without any shadow of a doubt. He’s a young man going places with great athletics pedigree. He’s a top championship performer. Last year was such a great year for him and he already came so close to breaking my record then,” said Akabusi recently.
“He’s managed low 48s and high 47s so many times that you can’t help but feel it’s a matter of when and not if. He’s the real deal and I can say without any doubt that he’ll be the next British record holder, it won’t take very long.”
Regardless of whether he does lower Akabusi’s record, he believes that the Birmingham and London meetings will see a plethora of good performances by British athletes.
“It’s so important for the British team to get good preparation for the World Championships in Daegu later in the summer, and these two meets fall perfectly into place,” commented Greene.
“I think a lot of athletes will look at these two meets and say to themselves that they are a good opportunity for them to really put down a marker. From that perspective the crowd is going to witness some brilliant performances.
“I’m really looking forward to racing at both the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix and the Aviva London Grand Prix this summer. For any athlete, you always want to be racing in front of your home crowd and I can’t wait to do that, especially after winning the Europeans and Commonwealths last year. I certainly aim to come away from both races with a victory for Great Britain,” added Greene.