MOST teenagers watching the World Athletics Championships that begin at London’s Olympic Stadium a week on Saturday will be astounded by the standard of athletes on display. Crook 18-year-old Markhim Lonsdale, however, is not ‘most teenagers’.

When Lonsdale sits down to watch Britain’s entrants in the 800m, he will do so with a rather more critical eye. After all, he has beaten all of them on at least one occasion this season.

As one of British athletics’ most exciting emerging talents, Lonsdale could have spent the last few months trying to secure a place in the World Championships squad. Instead, it was decided he would gain more from competing at the European Under-20s Championships, a decision that was more than justified when he came away from this month’s event in Italy with a silver medal.

That confirmed his burgeoning potential, and followed a double success at Under-20 level at this year’s indoor and outdoor National Championships.

Lonsdale’s age means he can continue to compete at Under-20 level next season, but a second-place finish at this year’s senior British Indoor Championships suggests he is already close to outgrowing the junior ranks.

Next year’s Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast are a realistic target, and the forthcoming World Championships will show him how much progress is required if he is to make the English team.

“I’ll definitely be watching the World Championships, and it’ll be interesting to see how the British guys go,” said Lonsdale, who took up athletics as a youngster with Crook and District Athletics Club. “One of the British runners (Guy Learmonth) beat me in the final of the British Indoors, but I’ve also beaten him this season so there’s not much between us.

“Whatever they do, I’ll be thinking, ‘I’ve beaten them’. It’ll give me a good idea of where I’m at in relation to some of the best 800m runners in the world.

“I’ve run in a few senior events this year, and hopefully I’ll be able to run in even more next year. The Commonwealth Games are obviously the main target, and although my season is starting to wind down a bit after the Europeans, I’ll be running in another couple of races to try to get the Commonwealth qualifying time.

“I need to run 1:46.5 – and my personal best is 1:46.9, so I’m not that far away at all. I know I’m more than capable of running the qualifying time, then after that, it’s just about trying to convince the selectors that I’m worth a place on the team.”

Lonsdale’s performance at the European Under-20s should have given them quite a nudge, with the County Durham youngster cruising through the rounds before finishing 12 hundredths of a second behind Croatian gold medallist Marino Bloudek in the 800m final.

Given that Bloudek is a year older than Lonsdale, and will not be eligible for next year’s Under-20s, the performance was an extremely notable one.

Even so, Lonsdale admits he was disappointed to have missed out on the gold, given that he went into the championships as the number one ranked runner in the field.

“It was a good run, but I feel like I could have got the gold,” he said. “I was top of the rankings going in, and quite a few of the people who I would have expected to be my closest rivals went out before the final.

“That opened things up a bit, but it just wasn’t to be in the final, and I was beaten by a better runner on the day. That happens. I’m pleased that I got a medal, especially because I’m still only 18 so I’m younger than most of the other runners at Under-20 level.  But there is a little bit of me that’s gutted I couldn’t get the gold.”

That attitude is indicative of the competitive streak that has already taken Lonsdale further than he could have imagined when he first started pounding the streets of Crook as a schoolboy.

He is still trained by his father, Keith, and can still be spotted on most days, tearing around the lanes and footpaths that surround his hometown. He travels to the Maiden Castle sports complex in Durham for track sessions, and jokingly admits at least part of the motivation for giving his all in training is to ensure his family home remains a harmonious place to live.

“It’s great having my dad as my trainer because it means there’s always someone there to talk to who I know I can trust,” he said. “But it also means we can’t get away from each other if something goes wrong.

“If I do bad in training, then it’s going to be bad in the house when I get home. We both carry things over like that, so it’s an extra motivation to make sure training goes well.

“I don’t want a bad atmosphere in the house, so I want to do well and give my all. Thankfully, the way things have gone this summer, there hasn’t been too much for either of us to complain about. The mood in the house has been pretty good, and hopefully that’s the way it will stay.”