Andrew Osagie

Having taken up athletics relatively late, aged 15, the Harlow-based 800m ace has made significant strides since making his international debut for Great Britain at the European Under-23 Championships in 2009.

The 23-year-old failed to make it out of the heats, but he didn’t have to wait long to make his first senior appearance in British colours at the 2010 World Indoor Championships.

Osagie, of Northbrooks, reached the semi-finals in Qatar back then, a performance he repeated at the Commonwealth Games in India later in the year before his first major final appearance at March’s European Indoor Championships in Paris. Despite finishing an agonising fourth, the Harlow Athletic Club member showed he is making progress and to prove it he ended Michael Rimmer’s five-year reign as national champion last month to book a trip to Daegu.