WILMSLOW'S Seren Bundy-Davies starts her quest for 400m glory in the European Athletics U23 Championships in Estonia on Thursday.

The 20-year-old former Wilmslow High School student, who is favourite for gold, goes into the individual heats in Kadriorg Stadium, Tallinn, ranked number one after improving her personal best to 51.72secs in Belgium 11 days ago.

Nobody in the 23-strong field has run faster than the Wales and Great Britain talent this year, though quicker times in previous years have been posted by Yekaterina Renzhina (Russia), Bianca Răzor (Romania) and Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz (Poland).

Progress will mean semi finals on Friday, the final on Saturday, with relay action to come on Saturday and Sunday.

Bundy-Davies had also made the grade for the World Championships in Beijing but British Athletics wanted her to make a choice.

"It's been a tough decision to make, but I'm sticking to my original plan of u23 Europeans," said Bundy-Davies on Twitter.

"Excited for my first junior international!"

HER OPPONENTS:

Country, surname, christian name, date of birth, personal best, season's best

(BEL) Bolingo Mbongo Cynthia, 12/01/1993 52.60, 52.60

(BEL) Grillet Justien, 18/07/1994, 53.31, 53.31

(BUL) Hristova Katya, 18/07/1993, 54.40, 54.40

(CRO) Dudek Kristina, 05/04/1994, 53.87, 53.87

(FRA) Sananes Deborah, 26/10/1995, 52.09, 52.09

(GBR) Bundy-Davies Seren, 30/12/1994, 51.72, 51.72

(GBR) McAslan Kirsten, 01/09/1993, 52.43, 52.43

(GER) Müller Laura, 11/12/1995, 52.91, 53.07

(ITA) Lukudo Raphaela Boaheng, 29/07/1994, 53.74, 53.74

(ITA) Pasquale Lucia, 04/01/1995, 54.54, 54.54

(ITA) Teruzzi Giulia, 08/04/1994, 54.35, 54.35

(ITA) Vitale Ylenia, 10/04/1995, 53.72, 53.72

(LAT) Latiševa-Čudare Gunta, 09/03/1995, 52.76, 53.13

(LTU) Morauskaitė Modesta, 02/10/1995, 53.18, 56.22

(POL) Curyło Małgorzata, 13/01/1994, 53.25, 53.25

(POL) Dąbrowska Martyna, 05/04/1994, 52.23, 52.23

(POL) Wyciszkiewicz Patrycja, 08/01/1994, 51.56, 52.60

(POR) Azevedo Cátia, 09/03/1994, 52.61, 53.18

(POR) Mentai Rivinilda, 01/04/1994

(ROU) Răzor Bianca, 08/08/1994, 51.49, 52.03

(RUS) Glotova Yana, 08/04/1995, 52.58, 52.58

(RUS) Renzhina Yekaterina, 18/10/1994, 51.67

(UKR) Klymyuk Kateryna, 02/06/1995, 53.49, 53.49

England U23 team leader Alison Wyeth is expecting a good performance from Great Britain & Ireland's 35 competitors.

She said “The team is a very strong line up, with each athlete selected because of their potential to medal, or achieve at least a top five placing in Tallin.”

Bundy-Davies will be competing in a historic venue over the four days.

Kadriorg Stadium, the main athletics arena in Estonia, held its first event in 1926.

More than 120 Olympic winners and world record holders have performed there.

During the Soviet regime in Estonia the stadium, part of a complex that also includes a training ground, was known as Dynamo Stadium.

In recent years, the European Athletics Junior Championships, European Cup Combined Events Super League and European Athletics Team Championships have all been staged there.

Bundy-Davies, whose talent first emerged as a 17-year-old while studying at Wilmslow High School, improved her outdoor personal best to 51.72secs, from 52.50, during her first outdoor run of the season in Nivelles on June 27.

The Trafford Athletics Club ace was too quick for Belgium’s Cynthia Bolingo Mbongo (52.86) and Mali’s Djenebou Dante (53.19).

It was a milestone performance in other ways too.

Only reigning world champion Christine Ohuruogu (51.48) and Anyika Onuora (51.67) had gone faster among Britain’s elite women this year.

And the time matched the Welsh indoor record she set at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix in February.

Coached by Stephen Ball, Bundy-Davies is now third on the Welsh all-time 400m achievement list outdoors, behind Michelle Scutt (50.63) and Catherine Murphy (51.36).

Her summer campaign comes on the back of an indoor season which yielded a bronze medal on her individual GB debut at the European Indoor Championships in Prague in March, when she also achieved a relay silver.

Bundy-Davies, of Welsh parentage, ran the anchor leg in the 4x400m World Relay Championships bronze medal-winning team in the Bahamas last month, securing GB a place in the Olympic Games in Rio next year.

Having been more focused on football and hockey growing up, her rise in athletics has been meteoric since finishing fourth in the senior girls’ 400m at the English Schools Championships in Gateshead in 2012.

A day too old for the World Junior Championships last year, she achieved the qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games a month too late.

The Manchester University student won her first senior GB vest in the 4x400m relay at the European Team Championships last June, when the team achieved fourth place.

She was also the 2014 indoor and outdoor Welsh champion, while in 2013 she claimed the Welsh indoor 600m record.