ONE successful major championships down, one even bigger one looming into view. Richard Kilty helped Great Britain’s 4x100m relay team win a World Championships silver medal and set a new European record on Saturday night, but the ‘Teesside Tornado’ is targeting the top step of the podium at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.

Kilty teamed up with Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake as Britain’s sprint relay squad pushed the United States all the way in Doha.

The quartet set a new European best as they finished in 37.36secs, just over two tenths of a second behind the US team, who posted the second-fastest time in history.

It was another stellar performance from the British team, who were crowned World champions in London four years ago, and was sufficient to convince Kilty that an Olympic gold medal is a realistic possibility next summer.

“It felt incredible, what more could we ask?” said Kilty, who hails from Stockton. “It took the second-fastest time in history to beat us. That was the best team America have ever assembled. We were only beaten by the second-fastest time ever, so we can definitely get gold in Tokyo.”

The US quartet always had control of the race, but the British team might have pushed them even closer had Hughes not suffered an injury just before passing the baton on to Kilty at the end of the second leg.

“Zharnel, what a warrior,” said Kilty. “He pulled his hamstring coming into the zone, so we had to slow it down that change and break. He went through a pulled hamstring to deliver me that baton. We’re so proud of each other.”

Britain’s female 4x100m relay squad also won silver, enabling Dina Asher-Smith to become the first Briton to win three medals at a single major global championships.

Asher-Smith, who had already won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m, was switched to the second leg instead of the anchor after Asha Philip was a last-minute replacement for Imani-Lara Lansiquot, who suffered an injury in the warm-up.

However, the reshuffle did not appear to have a negative effect on the British team, who recorded a season-best time of 41.85secs as they finished almost half-a-second behind a Jamaican squad featuring individual 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

“I didn’t know that (that no one else had won three medals at a single championships),” said Asher-Smith. “It feels great, but in all honesty that wouldn’t even be a conceivable idea if not for the teamwork. The relay is a team event. You can’t do that on your own, so thank you ladies.

“We hope Imani is okay because we made a last-second change. We made the decision to run a different team just before the call room. That’s testament to all of our experience over the past few years as a relay squad.

“We can go out there without directly doing the changeovers in the warm-up area and almost run a personal best and get a world silver medal. Maybe a cycle or two ago it would have been an inconceivable idea.”

Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman was also in action on Saturday night, finishing seventh in the final of the 5,000m after stepped up in distance from her previous speciality at 1,500m.

Weightman’s time of 14:44.57 smashed her personal best and took her into third place on the UK’s all-time list at 5,000m. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri claimed gold, but Weightman’s performance suggests she should travel to Tokyo next year as a medal contender.

“I gave it my all and walked away with a huge PB for third UK all time,” tweeted Weightman. “I’m excited for the future in an event I’m still learning.”