By James Toney in Paris

Birmingham’s Elliot Giles believes he is ready to step up in distance to contend with the best 1500m runners in the world.

The Birchfield Harrier narrowly missed qualification for the Olympic 800m final after being drafted into Team GB at the last moment, getting a phone call while camping in the Swiss Alps and arriving just two days later.

With only two advancing from three stacked semi-finals, plus the next two fastest, it's said making an 800m final is sometimes tougher than winning a medal.

And Giles, competing at his third Olympics, can certainly empathise – though is performance in Paris was better than both Rio and Tokyo.

"I know exactly what I need to do and when I need to do it, sometimes I just can’t," he admitted.

"Actually, with 100m to go, I felt confident and quite strong. I was full of running. I think, in reality, I know I’m very, very good, but sometimes my leg don’t quite have enough."

Giles, 30, now believes his days over two laps are over, eight years after winning bronze at the European Championships in Amsterdam.

He plans to step up to challenge the likes of British world champion Josh Kerr, world number one Jakob Ingebrigtsen and new Olympic champion Cole Hocker over 1500m.

And he isn't concerned they are running among the fastest times of all-time in their early and mid 20s.

"I think I’ll focus on 1500 now, because I will be running fastest with the speed I have from 800m." he said.

"Now in the 800m, I’m not running fastest, but if I step up one more I will be.

"I think we’ve learnt that anyone can do it. I’m not far off now. We’ll see what happens. I think we must go all in to be a contender in that event, there is no sense training for both distances.

"I wanted to do it this year but I got ill at the European and didn't really recover. Up until a year ago I was running well, the year since has been awful. I know we can turn things around."

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