SPRINTING sensation Jonnie Peacock has admitted he is taking inspiration from the success of legendary Paralympian Oscar Pistorius.

Peacock, 18, from Doddington, looks up to four-time Paralympic champion Pistorious and has become good friends with the South African ‘Blade Runner’.

The pair compete in the same T44 class but Pistorius has gone on to grab global headlines for his inclusion at the able-bodied World Athletic Championships in South Korea.

Peacock said: “I remember racing against Oscar at the Paralympic World Cup in 2010 and my technique was atrocious but when I raced him in New Zealand he said to me it had improved dramatically.

“That was a big confidence boost and what people fail to recognise is that there are several other runners like him that use the ‘Cheetah’ blades at elite levels – he is just so much faster than those that use them.

“Yes he is gifted but he puts in the hard work in training and there is no way you can say he has an advantage, if anything he is disadvantaged because in training he can’t do things able-bodies guys can.

“He has done a lot for Paralympic sport.”

Peacock’s personal best of 11.47secs may be over half a second outside of Pistorius’ world record but he believes he has barely scratched the surface of what he is capable of achieving.

“If you had said I would be running 12 seconds when I first started I would have been happy but I am running under 12 seconds now and I have improved a lot,” Peacock said.

“But I haven’t reached a plateau yet and ultimately the 2012 Paralympics are the main goal but I want to go to Rio in 2016 and do some damage and 2020 as well.”

• You can apply for tickets until 6pm on Monday for the London 2012 Paralympic Games – for more information, please go to www.tickets.london2012.com. Three quarters of tickets are priced at �20 or less.