RICHARD KILTY is still to decide whether to defend his World Indoor title next month, and is determined to use the outdoor season to prove he is not just a 60m sprint specialist.

Kilty enjoyed the greatest moment of his athletics career when he claimed the 60m crown at the World Indoor Championships in Poland two years ago, and landed another major honour when he triumphed in the European Indoor Championships last spring.

The Stockton sprinter proved his well-being as he finished in second position behind British team-mate Sean Safo-Antwi at Saturday’s Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix, and is almost certain to secure a place on the British squad for next month’s World Championships in Portland if he opts to defend his crown.

However, with the British Trials due to take place in Sheffield this weekend, Kilty is still to commit to travelling to the United States.

The 26-year-old bridles at the tag of being an indoor specialist, and is desperate to secure a place in the British squad for this summer’s Rio Olympics in order to prove his abilities on an outdoor surface.

With this year’s World Indoors taking place at a later date than usual, competing in Portland could limit an athlete’s preparation time for the start of the outdoor campaign.

“I feel that in the last two years, I have won everything there is to win indoors and it’s time for me to concentrate on the 100m,” said Kilty. “I’m not too sure whether I will go to Portland yet – I’ll decide (this) weekend.

“It would be great to win it again, but I’ve won it. The next thing is to make the 100m final (at the Olympics) and also start to show my promise over 200m. I was a 200m runner before 2014, and people forget that. At the moment, I’m about 60-40 to go (to Portland).”

Kilty’s 60m performances over the last two seasons have made him something of a figurehead for the British squad at this time of the year, but while he has produced the occasional impressive display over a longer distance, he is yet to translate his abundant indoor ability onto an outdoor track.

He has long held an ambition to break the ten-second barrier for the 100m, but while he lowered his personal best over the distance to 10.05sec last summer, a succession of niggling injuries hampered his campaign.

He has established himself as an integral part of Britain’s first-choice 4x100m squad, but while he competed in the individual 100m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he faces a tough battle against the likes of Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili and James Dasaolu in order to secure a place in Rio.

That is his overriding priority for the next few months though, and his winter training has focused on improving his strength and stamina rather than sharpening his starting speed.

The impact of that work was apparent at the weekend as he overcame a relatively slow start in order to close in on Safo-Antwi as his best spell of the race came in the final ten metres.

“I’ve won every title there is indoors and to win it again would be like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re just a good 60m runner’,” said Kilty. “I don’t want to have that mantle.

“The start is usually my strongest part of the race, but it’s been my worst part this year because I’ve been working on my 100m and you can see I am really coming through at the back end of the race.

“I haven’t decided if I am doing the British trials yet. I probably will, but if I feel I’m not ready, I won’t really worry about it. I want to do something outdoors this year.”

Teesside long jumper Chris Tomlinson was also in action in Glasgow at the weekend, finishing in seventh position with a leap of 7.64m, and the former Olympian spoke out in support of German amputee Markus Rehm, who is trying to secure a place in the Olympics as well as the Paralympics this summer.

Rehm, whose leap of 8.40m at last year’s IPC World Championships was only one centimetre short of the mark that earned Greg Rutherford the World title in Beijing, is a single-leg amputee who jumps off his artificial blade, and his attempts to compete in the Olympics have proved hugely controversial.

Some feel his take-off technique enables him to claim an unfair advantage, but Tomlinson would support his participation in the Olympics.

“Our sport is in absolute chaos, and we need something positive,” said Tomlinson, who made the long jump final at London 2012. “Markus is a positive because he is getting people talking.

“We all have an opinion, but the bottom line is he is great for the sport. Sports scientists will go off and do their evaluation, but I think he’s great. I think let him in. I don’t have a problem with it, and I don’t see any reason why anyone would.”