MARK RICHARDSON has mixed feelings about the absence of his great 400 metres rival Iwan Thomas as the curtain goes up on the World Athletics Championships in Seville.

While Thomas's ankle injury moves Richardson one step closer to the medal rostrum, the 27-year-old from Windsor, Slough & Eton admits that Southampton's European and Commonwealth champion Thomas is sorely missed.

"It's been a strange season without Iwan around," he admits. "Domestically the races haven't had the same intensity. The rivalry between us took us to another level last season and I've missed that.

"But, on the plus side, it helped me at the AAA Championships where I had a slight injury. With Iwan not being there, I didn't have to compete in the final and that suited me just fine."

The first round of the men's 400 metres gets under way at 10.15pm Spanish time tomorrow and Richardson believes he is in the best shape of his life to tackle the awesome American challenge spearheaded by Michael Johnson and Jerome Young.

"I'm in with a shout of a medal but I'm not deemed as one of the favourites and that's fine by me," he said. "I feel great both physically and mentally and feel better prepared than last season when I got side-tracked by Grand Prix races. This year I've scaled down my racing and geared my whole season around the Championships."

Relay-wise Richardson knows that without Thomas the British quartet will be hard-pressed to knock the Americans off their perch as they did back in the glory days of Tokyo 1991 when Team Solent pair Roger Black and anchorman Kriss Akabusi were instrumental in a shock victory.

Richardson admitted: "We've lost one of our main engines in Iwan. He's a great character and a good guy to have around in a team environment. But we've got a great tradition in the 4x400m and I'm sure we will be able to raise our game."

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