DANNY Talbot believes he is in great shape as the countdown to the Olympic Games trials enters its final week, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The British Championships, incorporating the trials for Rio, are just a week away (June 24-27) and the Trowbridge Tornado is bullish about his prospects after returning in good spirits from back-to-back meetings in Switzerland.

At the weekend, Talbot recorded his fastest 200m of the season as he clocked 20.39secs for victory in Geneva to dip inside UK Athletics’ Olympic Games qualifying standard of 20.50 seconds for the second time this year.

Talbot then made the short hop to Lucerne for the Spitzen Leicthathleik meeting on Tuesday but the wind was whipping in off the lake and into a big headwind of 2.3w, the 25-year-old could only manage 20.79 in third place.

But in the 100m, he clocked a time of 10.17 and reckons it is the best he has ever run over the shorter distance.

“Overall, I was really pleased with the trip to Switzerland,” said Talbot.

“It was really good practice to have a couple of races on Saturday and again on Tuesday and I was pleased with how I executed them.

“As I said before going it wasn’t so much about the times but how I ran the race and working on different parts of my technique and, as far as that goes, it was a very good exercise.

“The 200m in Geneva was my fastest of the season even though it was into a headwind and I reckon the 10.17 for the 100m in Lucerne was the best 100m I have ever run.”

Talbot’s 20.39 at Geneva puts him third in the UK Rankings going into the British Championships meaning the focus will be firmly on America-based Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, whose PB of 19.95 in Tuscaloosa last month will ensure the 22-year-old is made a hot favourite.

Long-time British rival James Ellington is just a fraction ahead of Talbot with a PB of 20.31 but that too, was set in the heat and sunshine of Florida in April leaving a question mark as to whether he can match or better that form at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium.

New coach Benke Blomkvist will also remind Talbot that all three of his 200m races this season have been into headwinds and that on the basis of his best two 100m events so far, 10.14 in Florida and in Lucerne on Tuesday 10.17, he is capable of going much quicker over the longer distance.

“I have been very consistent with my 200m so far and to be just one-tenth of a second outside my PB running into a big headwind proves to me that I am in shape to run a PB,” added Tabot.

“There is a fast time there and I am very excited about the trials and then hopefully the Olympics.”