Olympic champion Darren Campbell insists Sutton’s Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the man to challenge Dwain Chambers’s domestic sprint dominance – but only if he forgets about the world indoor champion.

The 21-year-old joined Chambers on the plane to Doha in March but, while the 32-year-old romped to 60m gold, Aikines-Aryeetey’s hopes of making it a British one-two were dashed when he suffered a hamstring pull in his semi-final.

Aikines-Aryeetey is yet to start his outdoor campaign but will need to be at his best just to qualify for this summer’s European Championships with Chambers, along with Simeon Williamson, Craig Pickering, a revitalised Mark Lewis-Francis and Tyrone Edgar among a host of British sprinters challenging for qualification.

But, while Campbell believes the former world youth 100m and 200m gold medallist can join Chambers in Barcelona, he is adamant Aikines-Aryeetey needs to look beyond his British rival for inspiration.

“I think some youngsters need to step up and challenge Dwain Chambers – he is at the top and, for the past couple of years, he has been phenomenal,” said Campbell, speaking at Kingdown Community School where he treated lucky pupils to a sprinting masterclass courtesy of the Aviva elevating athletics fund.

“Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the one who has threatened but so far he hasn’t been able to deliver.

“This year is a massive year for him, with the European Championships, and I believe, if athletes perform, I can see us coming away with gold, silver and bronze.

“Not being disrespectful to Dwain, but Harry has got to aim higher than him. You aren’t just competing against the British, so why focus on them?

“He needs to focus on being the best in the world because, once you are, you are clearly the best in Britain.”

Campbell famously won Olympic 200m silver in Sydney 10 years ago, as well as 100m World Championship bronze in 2003 and European gold in the same event five years earlier.

And Campbell believes Aikines-Aryeetey should also consider returning to his roots and doubling up in the years ahead as he continues to find his way in the sport.

“My feeling has always been that, if you are a sprinter, you should do the 100m and 200m and you should be made to do both,” added Campbell.

“The 200m helps the 100m and the 100m helps the 200m, and I think most people are afraid of running 200m.

“It is a further distance and you get more lactic acid and, definitely for me, I always ran both distances and it wasn’t so much of a bother for me.

“If you look at the biggest sprinters in the world, they are all great over 100m and 200m.

“And if you are good enough over 100, you are good enough over 200 – the two go hand in hand.

“The 200m helps with the last 20m of the 100m and 100m helps the 200m because you don’t have to deal with running around a bend.”

The Aviva elevating athletics fund provides free training and support to every teacher in the UK. To find out more visit aviva.co.uk/athletics