Jonnie Peacock: Paralympian looking to improve starts

Peacock won gold at last year's European Championships in Swansea

Paralympic 100m champion Jonnie Peacock says running in able-bodied events has helped him cope better with pressure at the start of a race.

The 22-year-old's only notable win of 2014 was at the European Championships.

"A lot of my competitions this year have been against able-bodied people.

"I wanted to start under pressure and a lot of the able-bodied athletes get better starts than me. It's been a good teaching experience to deal with," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

"In the Paralympic race I'm usually the guy that gets out first but in these I'm not. It's about learning new skills and I'm happy with how it's going so far."

Peacock, from Doddington in Cambridgeshire, recently competed in the Bedford International Games, where he ran 10.80secs.

His focus has now switched to the defence of his world title in Doha in October and next year's Paralympics in Rio.

His rivals include world record holder Alan Oliveira, Richard Brown, Felix Streng and Jarryd Wallace, who have all run under 11 seconds in 2015.

"This race has jumped on hugely since London," said Peacock. "In London we had two people run sub-11, this year so far we've had five people. That shows you how much it's progressed.

"If the conditions are right, then who knows, maybe we'll see a sub-10.8 second run, but it's impossible to say.

"It's great to see so many people go under 11 seconds - probably by the 2017 World Championships in London we'll have the whole final run under 11 seconds."