RICHARD KILTY admits even he cannot believe the extent of his achievements after he capped a memorable season with a victory at the Great North City Games on the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside.

Kilty almost walked away from athletics to join the Army after his funding was withdrawn in the wake of his controversial failure to make the British squad for the 2012 Olympics, but he burst back onto the scene in spectacular fashion when he won the World Indoor 100m title in March.

The Stockton sprinter has claimed three more major medals this summer, helping the British squad win 4x100m relay gold at both the World Relay Championships and European Championships and playing an integral part in England’s silver-medal success in the same event at the Commonwealth Games.

His outdoor form in the individual 100m might have been disappointing, as he failed to make the final in Glasgow or achieve his stated aim of breaking the ten-second barrier, but after producing a storming finish to win over 150m on the streets of Gateshead on Saturday, he was able to reflect on his 2014 efforts with pride.

“If you’d said everything that was going to happen this year when I was battling my way through the winter, I would have laughed in your face and wouldn’t have believed you,” said the Teessider, who held off American Michael Rodgers and fellow Briton Harry Aikines-Aryeetey to win in his native North-East. “To come away with four medals is amazing, and it’s completely changed things for me.

“But the good thing is that even though I’m coming away with this amount of medals, I still want more. There’s still much more that I want to do, and that makes me hungry going into next year.

“I didn’t show the same potential in the 100m as I did in the 60m, and if I’d been running at the same speed I showed in the 60m, I probably would have broken ten seconds. I lost some form in the month after the World Indoors due to training errors and the fact that the world title turned my life upside down and my feet probably weren’t back on the ground. I’ll learn from that going into next year.”

Kilty will now have a break before embarking on his winter training programme, with March’s European Indoor Championships in Prague providing an early target at the start of next season.

The 25-year-old would like to add the European Indoor title to his World crown, although his primary focus for 2015 will be improving his outdoor form ahead of the World Championships in Beijing in 11 months time.

“The outdoors will be main priority next season,” said Kilty. “I want to run a quick 100m time outdoors. I’ve proven I can do that if I get the first half of my race right.

“I’ll be doing the indoor season and targeting the Europeans, but I’ll be putting much more of a focus on managing the transition from indoors to outdoors.

“I’ll probably start my outdoor season a bit later with the World Championships being at the end of August. Next year, I’ll be much better prepared for the outdoor season and I’ll know what’s to come.

“I’ll go to the European Indoors expecting to win, or at least expecting to medal. And I’ll know what to do from there to the outdoors. That’ll be important, but this year has been a great learning curve and a massive success no matter what.”

Kilty was the only North-East winner at the weekend, with Commonwealth and European medallist Laura Weightman perhaps betraying the signs of a long campaign as she finished sixth in a women’s mile won by Scotland’s Laura Muir.

Middlesbrough’s Chris Tomlinson produced a creditable effort of 7.73m in the long jump, but could only finish third behind Olympic champion Greg Rutherford and another Briton, JJ Jegede.

Rutherford added the Commonwealth and European titles to his Olympic crown this summer, and will head into next season looking to emulate Daley Thompson, Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell by becoming only the fourth British athlete to hold all four major titles at the same time.

“There’s not many people have done it,” said Rutherford. “No long jumper has managed it, although Lynn (Davies) never got the chance because the World Championships weren’t around then.

“That has to my aim. I look at the world of long jump at the moment and I’d definitely still see myself as the best out there. If I stay fit and healthy, I should have a great chance of winning the World Championships.”

Christine Ohuruogu will be looking to claim her third world title in Beijing, and after a quiet campaign that saw her swerve the individual 400m at the Commonwealths and fail to win a medal at the Europeans, the 30-year-old was delighted with the burst of pace that enabled her to race clear of Lynsey Sharp and Eildih Child to triumph in the rarely-run 500m on Saturday.

“It’s always nice to finish the season up here,” she said. “It was very special to be able to run in front of such a raucous crowd. It was great for all the athletes to be able to share the love that was out there.”

There were six British winners in total, with Asha Philip triumphing in the women’s 150m and Tiffany Porter beating a strong field in the 100m hurdles.