Seamus Derbyshire: Stoke athlete stunned after becoming fifth-fastest British man over 400m hurdles

Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles bronze medallist Alastair Chambers, Joshua Fauldes, a bronze medallist, along with Chambers, in the 4x400m mixed relay at the European Indoor Championships in February, and European U20 4x400m relay champion Jake Minshull have all run sub-49 seconds this year, with Derbyshire now top of the list.

The City of Stoke Athletics Club member, and silver medallist at the European Under-20 Championships in 2019, also moved past Chambers in the all-time British list.

“The event is in such a strong place in the UK at the moment,” Derbyshire told BBC Radio Stoke.

“So that, as a stat, is mind-boggling.

“I started athletics 11 years ago and if you’d told me then this is how good I could potentially be I would never ever believe it in a million years.

“It’s like living the dream.”

Only Chris Rawlinson, David Hemery, David Greene and Akabusi have run faster than Derbyshire , externalwho is open-minded about how close he can get to the British record.

“I’m making my way up and I’ve jumped from 29th to 5th and it’s a huge leap in one race,” Derbyshire said.

“My training has been different to what I’ve done before and that has kept me quite fresh.

“Everything I was doing was suggesting I was getting quicker and stronger. It’s the first year with a new coach and training set-up, so who knows?”