SOUTHAMPTON'S budding new athletics star Emma Duck faces the first major test of her 400 metres hurdles career at Sunday's Loughborough International.

But having winged her way to the top of the UK rankings after just FIVE outings over the distance, the 24-year-old reckons she's far too focused these days to let nerves beat her.

After marking her transformation from sprint hurdler to one-lapper with a promising 59.1-second run at the back end of last season, Duck has gone from strength to strength in a breathtakingly short space of time.

Ranked eighth nationally in 2004, she is now sitting pretty at the top of the early-season UK pile after setting a Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 57.06 at last weekend's Hampshire Track & Field Championships.

Looking forward to donning an England vest at Loughborough, she said: "I'll be up against some big names for the first time, so it'll be interesting to see how I do. I do get nervous, but I'm much more focused this year and I think about myself rather than who I'm up against.

"At Portsmouth I was running against my friend and training partner Sian Scott, the BUSA (British Universities) champion, but I didn't think about that, I just concentrated on my own race."

In the absence of Tasha Danvers-Smith - a 54.02 runner - through injury and maternity leave, British women's 400 metres hurdling is crying out for a new star.

Trafford's Liz Fairs was the pick of last season's bunch with a best of 56.73, but she now faces stern competition from Duck and Team Southampton clubmate Scott - second in the rankings with 58.16, set at the BUSA Championships in Glasgow.

Duck, who hails from Townhill Park, has been coached by former world indoor 400m record holder Todd Bennett for the last five years and trains alongside 400m internationals Melanie Purkiss and Rob Tobin.

It was one of Bennett's old teammates, Kriss Akabusi, who put the one-lap hurdles on the map in Southampton, but Duck said: "I'm too young to have been inspired by Kriss. My inspiration comes from the athletes I train with and from Todd pushing me on. Todd thinks I can do it and he makes me believe in myself."

Tobin, who tackles his first 400m of the season at Loughborough, smiled: "The whole group is doing really well."

Kelly Sotherton, the Isle of Wight's Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist also competing at Loughborough, has received a Great Britain long jump call-up for the Norwich Union International against Russia and USA at Glasgow on June 5.

Current UK 400m hurdles rankings (venue bracketed):

57.06 Emma Duck (Portmouth) May 15

58.16 Sian Scott (Glasgow) May 1

58.5 Michelle Thomas (Nuneaton) May 15

59.18 Justine Roach (Philadelphia) Apr 28

59.77 Lisa Whigham (Glasgow) May 15

59.95 Anwen Rees (Glasgow) May 1

60.61 Jennifer Culley (London) Apr 30