CITY of York Athletics Club star Richard Buck is targeting a 4x400 metre relay podium finish at the London 2012 Olympics after winning a European Athletics Championships silver medal.

The 25-year-old led home the Great Britain quartet behind Belgium in Helsinki yesterday, giving UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee a timely nudge ahead of today’s Olympic selection meeting.

Van Commenee has a host of relay options open to him at London 2012, with British number one Martyn Rooney missing the European Championships in Helsinki, while 400 metre hurdler Dai Greene is also an option.

Buck is convinced the performance of the British quartet bodes well for London 2012 after their gutsy showing in the Finnish capital.

“That was good preparation for the Olympic Games,” he said.

“We’ve got a month now before the next final, so we’ve got a lot of work to put in with America, Jamaica and the rest of the world coming.

“It’s good we can run another season’s best and we’ve got a lot of people to work with. We’ve got a big team, so we’re going to fix it and as long as we’re on the podium in London, we’ll be happy.”

After the first three legs of yesterday’s final, Britain found themselves in the gold medal position after strong performances from Nigel Levine, Conrad Williams and Rob Tobin.

However, Buck, who finished fifth in the individual 400 metres final in the Finnish capital, was unable to hold off the challenge of Belgium’s Kevin Borlee – the fastest man in Europe this season – as the Brit was reeled in with 150 metres to go.

Buck was forced to dig deep as Germany closed in the final 50 metres but Britain held on to claim a much-deserved podium position.

“I’m a bit disappointed with that – the guys did such a good job to get me there,” said Buck. “I tried to keep a lead, and pushed out hard.

“I tried to ease off down the third hundred, to save a little for the kick on but obviously the guy was strong, and I didn’t quite have enough. I put the team down a little bit there because they put in a great performance.

“I’m still really pleased with it, but we all know we want that little bit more than that and we’ve got a couple weeks now to make sure that happens."

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