FORMER Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell believes sprinter Richard Kilty can be a force to reckoned with in 2015 – if the Teesside Tornado can bring his stellar indoor form onto the outdoor circuit.

Kilty was crowned 60m world indoor champion in Sopot last year and again showed his class by adding the indoor European crown to his collection in Prague earlier this month.

However, with the exception of relay gold at the European Championships in Zurich, the 25-year-old is yet to leave his mark on the outdoor season.

While rising star CJ Ujah ran sub-ten seconds last year, Kilty’s best over 100m currently stands at 10.10.

But with Linford Christie now in his corner and the World Championships on the horizon this summer, Campbell believes Kilty is ready to step up.

“Richard is one of the more experienced ones of the current sprint crop and really the relay gold at the Euros was huge,” said Campbell, speaking at the SSE Arena at Wembley, where she is a mentor for SSE's Next Generation programme, which provides vital financial and development support to 100 young athletes from across the UK and Ireland.

“Sport is all about confidence and having the belief that you do belong at the top table, it's all well and good getting there but do you deserve to dine at that table and do you have the confidence to dine there?

“It's easy to focus on that sub ten second mark, I never went below ten seconds yet I have a world championship bronze medal and I was European champion.

“It’s easy to focus on the time but the reality is when you get into those big events you want to come first.

“If that means you come first by running 10.3 then you will take that because it means gold, it's easy to focus on the time.”

While Kilty has not yet gone sub-ten he showed all his experience to take gold after Ujah was disqualified for a false start.

And it is that extra bit of know-how that Campbell thinks Kilty can capitalise on when it comes to the World Championships in Beijing.

“Yes CJ (Ujah) has run sub ten but then he messed up at the Euros so these are the things that can happen,” he added.

“I think for Kilty the important thing was winning the world indoors last year then winning the Europeans this year.

“He has changed coach and is with Linford so that should enable him to get that last 40 metres right because that is the problem.

“The key is putting together the whole race that is what he needs to do and I think he should be able to get that right being with Linford.

“If its sub ten then that is great but if it’s not it doesn’t matter because he is ready to put it all together on the day.”

SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen