OLYMPIC 4x400 metres relay hopeful Robert Tobin is hitting form at just the right time for Athens.

The Southampton University student shaved another chunk off his 400 metres personal best at the weekend's Loughborough International, placing him tenth in the domestic outdoor rankings this season and breaking him into the UK all-time top 100 at number 94.

It's been a high-speed start to the summer for the 20-year-old Basingstoke & Mid-Hants athlete, who is coached in Southampton by former one-lap indoor world record holder Todd Bennett.

Last month he improved his best to 46.71 seconds at Oxford's Iffley Road and he lowered it again at Loughborough, powering home in 46.66, well ahead of runner-up Richard Davenport (47.73).

He couldn't have asked for a better start to the season and yet the management science and accounting student is his own worst critic and is far from happy with his form.

The common downfall of 400 metres runners is to die a death over the last 100 metres, yet Tobin's problem of late is having too much rather than too little left in the tank going down the home straight.

He confessed: "I didn't run a very good race at Loughborough. I'm still too slow through the first 200 metres and I was probably too strong at the finish. Although it's good to be strong down the home straight, it limits you to what you can achieve if you don't go off quickly enough.

"I felt I had more left in me and I know I can run faster."

Tim Benjamin currently heads the UK rankings after posting 45.47 in Spain last weekend and Iwan Thomas, the former Southampton-based European and Commonwealth champion, sits at number seven with an April run of 46.52 in Azusa, USA.

There is little to separate the runners lower down the order as the clock ticks down to next month's Olympic Trials in Manchester and Tobin will be looking to make further strides up the rankings, starting in Spain this Sunday.

He is due to line up in an international field at Gava, near Barcelona - a date set up for him by his agent and former British javelin great Tessa Sanderson.

Tobin's teammate Melanie Purkiss finished third in the women's 400m at Loughborough, clocking a season's best 53.41. Andy Frost was second in the hammer with 67.54, while fellow Isle of Wight athlete Bryony Frost posted 10.33.98 for fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase.