Kriss Akabusi has urged rising 400m hurdles star Jack Green to be inspired and not intimidated by training alongside world champion Dai Greene.

Green, aged 20, proved he is one to watch last summer when he stormed to a European under-23 gold medal and narrowly missed out on a place in the World Championship final in Daegu.

That title was famously won by Greene, who trains with Green at the University of Bath under the guidance of legendary hurdles coach Malcolm Arnold.

And UK 400m hurdles record holder Akabusi believes the experience of working alongside the world's number one on a daily basis could go one of two ways for the young pretender.

"Jack could watch and learn from Dai and come up on his slipstream, or he could be broken by Dai," said Akabusi, who won Olympic bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

"When you are a young lad who has performed well up to a certain stage, it's very easy to be turned off by a key performer rather than turned on.

"If you're working with someone who is quicker than you, your head can go easily – 'Why am I not winning? Why am I not performing?'.

"I don't know what will happen to Jack but I do know he is a very talented young man and a top performer."

Akabusi also urged Green to heed the lessons of past athletes who enjoyed great success at youth level but failed to achieve their potential on the senior stage.

"There was a young man in my day called Ade Mafe," Akabusi recalled. "He broke every single age record from 13 to 17 and made the Olympic final at the age of 17.

"Two years later – bye bye, gone. He simply couldn't maintain it. Instead you had John Regis, who was in his shadow, who went on to be the best in the world.

"Let's just watch Jack, give him a bit of space to grow and develop, and hopefully he will end up emulating and maybe even overshadowing Dai Greene, rather than go the other way."