Athletics: Kris Gauson gives his World Uni Games bid the Kris of life

The 23-year-old Musselburgh runner, who has just completed an athletics scholarship at Butler University in Indiana, swooped from the pack to catch Ayrshire hope Craig Stewart a few metres from the line yesterday, with Chris Smith (Wirral) third and former champion Graeme Oudney fourth.

Gauson, who missed the NCAA Finals last month after losing 6lb from a bout of food poisoning, was timed at 1 minute 50.73 seconds, just outside his season's best. He will now head for the UK Championships and World Trials in Birmingham the weekend after next to contest the 1500m with renewed confidence.

The joint Scottish champion with Ross Toole at that distance at the age of only 18 and the top-ranked Scot this season with 3:40.59 which he set in USA, Gauson, who is now an impecunious full-time athlete, has confounded the perceived wisdom that it is hard to compete through the US winter and highly competitive early summer season and then return to excel in Scotland.

"In a way the food poisoning incident could have helped me as it kinda gave me the break from training I needed," said Gauson, who also broke four minutes for the mile indoors last winter, though overshadowed by the exploits of another US-based Capital star Chris O'Hare, who ran 3:56.48 for the mile indoors, took a silver medal in the NCAA indoor 1500m and reached the NCAA outdoor final.

O'Hare, however, decided to take a complete break and not return for the British summer season.

Gauson believes he can run the 1500m in 3:38.0 in the UK trials "if it's an honest race".

"But realistically I'm looking at a top-five place," he added.

The Knox Academy FP is hoping to learn tomorrow that he is in the British team for the World University Games in China.

"I want to go to China so badly - there's a holding camp and we'll be in the village for two weeks and I've not experienced that before."

Meanwhile, the 2010 800m champion Mark Mitchell ran the 1500m, taking that title comfortably in 3:51.11 and he will also head for the trials in the longer event.

The performance of the meeting was 400m hurdles ace Eilidh Child's flat 400m victory in 52.30 secs, which was more than a second faster than the personal best she achieved in her heat (53.38).It was all the more impressive as she was the clear winner, Scottish No.?1 Lee McConnell, having opted for the 200m which she won from 100m winner Stacey Downie in 23.49 secs.

Of those eligible for the World Championships, Child is now fourth fastest in the UK and must be in the frame for a 4x400m relay place in Daegu, South Korea, in August. "At least I've given them something to think about," she laughed, a sentiment shared by McConnell, who added: "It would be nice to have two Scots in the team."

Heriot-Watt Masters student Ryan Oswald (Pitreavie) took his second 200m title in 21.38 secs, having come off the bend ahead of fellow Fifer Nick Smith, who had shaded him on Saturday (10.37 to 10.39) to take the 100m title for a record seventh time, beating Elliot Bunney's six, and hi sifth in a row, equalling Eric Liddell's feat from 1921-25.

Oswald too is looking for that fast plane to China next month.

In the field events, Jayne Nisbet (EAC) easily won the high jump (1.80m), Andy Frost won the men's hammer (69.98m) and Susan McKelvie (EAC) took the women's for the fourth year in a row and fifth in all with 63.32m, her second best throw ever. There was further Capital success in the women's hurdles, with Catriona Pennet taking the 100m in 14.45secs and Avril Jackson retaining the 400m in 64.68secs.

n DRUMMOND COMMUNITY HIGH pupil Kimberley Reed (Edinburgh AC) threw a meeting record of 54.63m to win the hammer at the British Schools International in Cardiff as Scotland finished fourth.

"I want to go to China so badly - there's a holding camp and we'll be in the village for two weeks" kris gauson