RICHARD Kilty warned Team GB fans to watch this space as he helped the sprint relay team into the Olympic final in eye-catching style.

Kilty was part of the British quartet that won 4x100m silver at the last World Championships in Doha and the 31-year-old - competing at his second Games - knows this could be his final shot at the Olympic podium.

Five years ago in Rio he was part of the team that finished fifth in the event and despite the absence of key man Adam Gemili, another of Britain's crocked stars in Tokyo, he has high hopes for improvement on Friday.

Kilty joined forces with Chijindu Ujah, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and the quartet clocked 38.02 seconds to finish second in their heat behind Jamaica, progressing to the final in fifth fastest time.

"It was very safe, we need to go at least half a second quicker to get the gold and I think we can," said Kilty, who is able to train full time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams thanks to National Lottery funding – which has never been more important in getting him to the start line after a turbulent year. 

"We’ve got to push the changeovers out and the outgoing runner has to go off harder. We’ve all got to run faster legs it is as simple as that.

"We want to win every heat we’re that good, we want to win the final. That was safe and all four of us know we’ve got more to give there.

“The main thing is we got through. The rest of the teams were giving it everything but we knew we were going to play it safe."

Hughes, who false started in the men's 100m final when a medal was seemingly wide open to snatch, also insisted gold was up for grabs, 17 years after Team GB won an epic race with the Americans in Athens.

And once again they'll be no medal for the USA - a run that goes back to that race - after they stuttered around the track to a lacklustre sixth in their heat, not good enough to progress.

"What happened, it’s still difficult for me but at the end of the day I have to move on, I have relay now and that’s what I’m focussing on," said Hughes.

"For me I’m just going out there to stay focussed, hitting the check mark and give my very best on the back straight and hopefully put the guys in the lead. We’re in the finals and I’ll be rolling in the finals."

Ujah, who gave Team GB a flying start before handing on to Hughes, with Kilty running the top bend, added: "No medals are won in the heats, we’ve got a big Q as one of the qualifiers and we’ll get a good lane in the final.

"I’m sure we’ll step up our game again and stretch the checks a bit and head for gold."

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