by Alex Hoad

Jack Green has revealed he has received guidance from Olympic hurdles medallist Kriss Akabusi as he bids to secure his place at London 2012.

The 20-year-old is in the final stages of preparation for the British Olympic Trials in Birmingham next weekend but revealed he is experimenting with shorter stride patterns in a bid to improve his PB of 48.98s for the 400mH.

Green said: "I can carry on as I am and do well, but I won't win anything, or by changing stride patterns I can give myself a better chance of being there and in a good position in the last 100m."

The first test of the new technique saw Green finish 6th in 49.70 in the Diamond League meeting in Oslo last Thursday, however it led to him hitting seven of the 10 hurdles and hurting his knee.

He said: "I ran Tuesday night, then travelled, and ran Thursday, which wasn't great really, and I didn't run fast, so it didn't really matter in the end that I hit so many hurdles."

Green (pictured) suffered a bruised and swollen knee from the impacts but said: "It's nothing to worry about, it's been a bit blue, but it could have been a lot worse."

After the disappointment of Norway, Green revealed: "I had a chat with Kriss Akabusi on the phone. The problems I'm having were very similar to the ones which he had during his career.

"It was good to chat to him and it was very useful. It's good to know he's around to help out in the future."

Green's focus is entirely on a top-two finish in the trials and he added: "It's a hard week, this week. It is all about the trials now.

"I already have the Olympic A standard and I know if I can get into the top two then that will be enough. Four of us have the qualifying standard and it's a good group, but I am second fastest and have beaten everyone except (World Champion) Dai Greene.

"There is a third place which is a discretionary decision, but I don't even want to think about that prospect."