HAMPSHIRE'S newly-crowned European under-23 400 metres champion Robert Tobin may be king of the continent, but he still has some way to go to earn 'world class' credentials.

While the Basingstoke & Mid Hants athlete reigns supreme in the British and European senior 2005 rankings with last month's 45.01-second run in Geneva, tonight's London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace will doubtless confirm what he already knows - that the Americans are in a class of their own.

On a global scale, Tobin's time is the 35th fastest this year. It may be less than a second slower than the USA's Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, the man currently occupying number one slot with 44.20, but it represents a world of difference distance-wise.

Wariner and fellow Olympic 4x400 metres gold medallist Darold Williamson are expected to be among Tobin's opponents tonight in what will be a steep learning curve for the 21-year-old Southampton University graduate.

Between them, Wariner and world number two Williamson have dipped under the 45-second mark on nine occasions this summer and in winning the Olympic title at the tender age of 20 in Athens, Wariner clocked 44 seconds dead.

It's bound to be hot company for Tobin and fellow Briton Tim Benjamin, but with the UK selectors about to finalise the World Championship team for Helsinki, it's a prospect he is relishing.

He said: "It's going to be a really quick race tonight. All the fast Americans will be there.

"Rather than be scared, I look at it as a challenge. If the weather's good, I'm hoping they can pull me round to a personal best."

The relief for Tobin is that after a spell out with a leg injury, he got through three tough rounds unscathed at the European Under-23s in Erfurt, Germany and ran his second fastest time ever, 45.64, in the semi-finals.

A fierce wind slowed him down to 46.81 in the final, but he was still some four metres clear of the rest.

Tiredness told when he was overtaken on the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay, relegating Britain to silver medal spot, but he said: "The leg felt fine. I was getting physio while I was out there and I didn't feel any pain at all."

Team Southampton's Sian Scott, who struck 400m hurdles bronze and 4x400m relay silver in Erfurt, is also in action at Crystal Palace tonight in a domestic 400m hurdles race.

Hedge End race walker Nick Ball coped well in hot conditions to finish 15th over 10k at the World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco, clocking 47.15.51.

Aldershot, Farnham & District's Laurence Cox was ninth in the boys' 1500m final (3.54.73), while clubmate Emma Pallant was sixth in her 1500m heat (4.35.19).