Whether Usain Bolt appears or not, it has long been presumed that Jamaica will provide the 100 metres champion at the Commonwealth Games.

But Neil Black, performance director at UK Athletics, suggests that the burgeoning rivalry between James Dasaolu and Richard Kilty, plus a host of other domestic challengers, could produce a massive scrap at Hampden this summer.

With the fast-emerging Dasaolu out injured, Kilty was the surprise winner of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's only gold at the world indoor championships in Poland over the weekend, with the 24-year-old Teessider apparently leaving a colourful past behind him to focus entirely on his track endeavours.

Even with Dwain Chambers still fighting for a future at the age of 35, Black believes that a new age of sprinting achievement may be on the horizon. He also expects others waiting in the wings to be inspired to come through in the months ahead and challenge for medals in Glasgow and elsewhere.

"There's a number of them," he said. "I got a text from James Dasaolu and his response was brilliant. He said, 'I'm thinking of the future. There'll be other chances. And I'm part of a phenomenal group of sprinters in the UK who have lots of potential.' That's genuinely how they're all starting to feel.

"There's a healthy competition for places. They all want to be part of the relay going forwards. And we're lucky to be thinking that we're genuinely relay medal prospects and we've got individuals who will be challenging for medals too."

Those might include Scottish pair Laura Muir and Chris O'Hare, two among the group of under-achievers in Sopot whom Black has urged to return home and use the harsh lessons learned here to their advantage. Yet it is heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson who departed yesterday with her cv the most enhanced, the 21-year-old Liverpudlian having given an indication that she can fulfil her ambition of Commonwealth gold following the silver medal she secured in the long jump which capped an impressive winter campaign.

"She's just outstanding, isn't she?" said Black. "Katarina and her coach have a great working relationship. They're calm. They're targeted. They took it on the chin when she wasn't selected into the pentathlon here.

"And she's come back and shown what she can do, with personal bests in high jump and long jump. I think she really is turning into a mature athlete. We can expect she is going to be competitive at the highest level in the future."