OLYMPIC hopeful Richard Buck steps up his bid for a Beijing berth tomorrow.

The City of York Athlete will be running the 400 metres for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team in the Norwich Union International in Glasgow.

The 21-year-old clocked a personal best of 47.05 seconds to take gold at Northern Indoor Championships in Sheffield last weekend.

A place in the British team at the World Indoor Championships is on the horizon next month as he builds up to the Norwich Union World Trials & UK Championships in Sheffield on February 9 and 10.

Buck, a second year student at Leeds Metropolitan University, was part of the Great Britain 4x400m relay team at the World Championships in Osaka last year. And the experience has left the 21-year-old eager to use the indoor season as a springboard to outdoor success and an Olympic place.

He said: "I was really happy to be picked for the GB team in Glasgow and with training going well hopefully I should be running quite quickly.

"After that I intend to run in Sheffield and hopefully at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham, and then go to the World Indoors in March."

After running the 400m tomorrow, at 1.50pm, the City of York runner returns to the indoor scene in Sheffield for the world trials.

He said: "I'm looking forward to going back to the EIS-Sheffield it's always a great venue. That's where I want to show the selectors I'm the one for the World Indoors."

Competition for places in the British men's 400m squad remains tough, with the likes of Tim Benjamin, Andrew Steele and Martyn Rooney all out to shine in Olympic year.

But the opposition only serves to spur Buck on as he works towards securing an individual spot at the Olympic Games in Beijing in seven month's time.

He said: "Running in the relay at the World Championships in Osaka really made me want to train harder so that I'm not going to the Olympics with a relay spot. I would like an individual spot there.

"Osaka has given me real incentive to keep working. There's a lot of competition in the men's 400m, but that really helps drag the event forward.

"It's tough and it's a bit frustrating sometimes with so many people trying to get on the team, but in the long run it's going to help the event massively."