TOM Lancashire believes he is on track for World Championships success this summer after impressing at the world’s top cross-country race on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Bolton Olympic and World Championships star finished fifth in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country 4.2km race behind Kenya’s current Olympic gold and silver medal holders Eliud Kipchoge, Asbel Kiprop and Brimin Kipruto, and British rival Steve Vernon.

He took a clutch of top scalps, most notably Spain’s Arturo Casado who won the European Championships 1,500m gold last summer, beating Lancashire in the process.

Also behind Lancashire were last year’s Edinburgh winner, Ricky Stevenson, and Portugal’s former Olympic 1,500m bronze medalist Rui Silva.

Bolton Harrier Lancashire, Britain’s number oneranked 1500m star who represented Great Britain at the last World Championships, Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, said: “I did what I wanted to do, which was stick with the Kenyans until they went away at one point in the race.

“I dug in and was pleased with my run, and with how strong I felt. It’s my best performance in the four years I’ve run the race.

“It was my first race since November and is a good guideline as to where I am up to.

“It told me what I know from training, that I’m in much better shape than last year.

“In training all my times are improved on last year, and I’m doing more reps and feeling stronger doing them. It all tells me I’m going in the right direction.

“I’m focusing on strength during the winter to be ready for a big year on the track.

“The World Championships is the big one this year. They are massive and my aim is to get to the final. I know it’s going to be hard to do that.”

Lancashire’s concentration on piling the strength into his legs during the winter means he will not run at the European Indoor Championships in Paris at FIFTH Tom Lancashire the beginning of March.