Young Olympic dreamer Pickering beats his heroes and his nerves

Pickering was inspired by Britain's relay gold medallists in Athens three years ago, and he left two of them, Jason Gardener and Mark Lewis-Francis, in his wake over 60metres at the international meeting at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

The 20-year-old European junior 100m champion, who came into the meeting holding the fastest time in the world this year, showed last weekend's performance of 6.56secs at Lee Valley was no fluke as he shaved off another 100th of a second against a top field.

Training partner Gardener finished second in 6.70secs, while Lewis-Francis was a disappointing fourth.

Pickering, coached by Malcolm Arnold, the former mentor of Colin Jackson, said: "Usually against the big boys, I struggle with nerves.

"I was worried I would be like that today, but as soon as I heard the noise I felt amazing."

Sara McGreavy and Kelly Sotherton smashed their personal bests but were unable to match the outstanding display of Sweden's Susanna Kallur in their 60m hurdles contest.

European indoor champion Kallur roared to 7.90secs, the world's fastest time this year.