COWDENBEATH athletics star Jack Lawrie is leaving no stone unturned as he aims to make the grade for next year's Commonwealth Games.

The 20-year-old 400 metres hurdler is targeting a successful qualifying season as he bids to make the standard for a place on the plane to the Gold Coast in just over 12 months' time.

Pitreavie Amateur Athletics Club athlete Lawrie, whose day job is as a process operator on a chemical plant, struck gold in last year's Scottish Athletics National Senior Championships and intends to build on a successful 2016 in time for next year's Games – and the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.

The former Beath High School pupil is confident of meeting the standards required – currently just 0.85 seconds outside his personal best of 50.85 – but says he has been working hard on fine-tuning all elements of his running.

"It's no easy task but I'm quietly confident I'll be able to hit the targets," he commented.

"The big thing coming up for me is the Commonwealth Games qualification, so I've got to hit the qualifying standard for that twice during the upcoming season. On the road to doing that, hopefully I'll do well at the European under-23s in July as well.

"I feel a limiting factor in my racing at the moment is my flat speed. I've been working really hard on building up my speed on 100m and 200m distances, which will hopefully transfer into my 400m hurdles.

"I've been working really hard in training, and I'm definitely seeing improvements, so it's just a matter of pulling that into my racing and over 400m distances."

Lawrie, part of SSE's Next Generation Programme that gives support to 100 of the best up-and-coming young British and Irish athletes from a variety of sports on their way to the top, was triumphant at the English under-23 Championships and appeared in the heats of the senior British Championships.

With a full step up to seniors eventually around the corner Lawrie, who last year said that running for Scotland on the Gold Coast would be the "highlight of my career", knows the importance of taking his preparations seriously.

He added: "I've matured as an athlete. I appreciate a lot more what goes into training rather than just turning up for training.

"I want to give myself the best chance at every training session and improve on that week on week, which will hopefully translate into me improving my competition performances."

SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen.