Newham athlete Niall Flannery just missed out on first place in the England under-23 Championships at the weekend

Newham & Essex Beagle Niall Flannery is adamant he won’t let lightning strike twice in Finland should he make the European Under-23 Championships after being pipped to victory at the trials.

Flannery is all but packing his bags for Tampere next month after finishing second in the 400m hurdles at the England Athletics Under-23 Championships with his time of 50.32seconds inside the required qualification standard.

However the 22-year-old couldn’t help but wonder what might have been in the final at these European trials in Bedford at the weekend after he spoiled a good start by hitting the last hurdle.

It still took a special effort to beat him with the winner, Sebastian Rodger, running a personal best 49.87 with Flannery full of belief that he will still be handed a plane ticket to Finland.

And when he is Flannery, the top ranked under-23 Brit this year with a personal best of 49.73, is determined to eradicate the errors that saw him finish second best on home soil.

“It was always going to be a good race and it was competitive, I just made a couple of technical errors and I suddenly hit that last hurdle and realised that I had been beaten,” said Flannery.

“Seb ran well to win the race; he got a personal best so fair play to him, but in the grand scheme of things I am pleased. It is always a bit annoying when things go wrong but I was still second and I should still be on the plane.

“I know I am in good shape and I just need to put those errors I made at the trials right. I’ve got a month left until the Championships now so I need to make sure that I go there fresh so I will do one, a maximum of two races, now in between.

“Training will involve tweaking minor details and making sure that I am strong and that I get some good quality in but I’m confident going into it, I just need to wait for confirmation that I have been selected.”

However Flannery’s ambitions this year don’t just stop at Finland and the under-23 age group with his mind wandering to the senior World Championships in Moscow this summer.

He’ll need to lower his personal best to put himself into contention and Flannery admits thoughts of a second trip on the continent will be in his head when he next takes to the track.

“This season has always been geared around a medal at the European Under-23s with the bonus of if I can run the A standard for the worlds,” he added.

“Getting a spot there and making my first senior championships would be amazing and, while I am concentrating on the European Under-23s, that is also in my head.”

*Lloyds TSB Local Heroes, in partnership with SportsAid, has supported 1,000 of Britain’s most talented developing athletes. As part of Lloyds TSB’s commitment to helping future sports stars prosper, the programme will continue in 2013. Follow future stars at facebook.com/lloydstsblocalheroes