Sally Gunnell has tipped British sprint stars to light a spark at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Zharnel Hughes, the fastest man in Britain, will have a target on his back as he heads into the men's 100m event, breaking the 30-year British record in June with a time of 9.87 seconds and recording a world lead time in the process.

But Gunnell is cautious to tip him for gold just yet, with hopes of a podium spot amidst the pressure cooker environment undoubtedly a tough ask.

"Zharnel is going into the 100m with the fastest time in the world, but it's going to be tough," said the former world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion. 

"What I like about him is showing that consistency now, but I still think that you've still got to learn the ropes a little bit.

"It will be brilliant if he comes away with a medal as that will set him up for Paris next year and if I was him, that's how I would look at it.

"I know he's rooting for that gold medal, and he's got the talent but sometimes I think you have to learn a little bit of pressure and those expectations to get to gold and I wonder whether he has had enough time to learn that.

"He's up against some big guys so it is going to be tough."

Hughes will be joined on the British sprinting circuit by a woman well adapted to the pressure of an international stage: Dina Asher-Smith.

At the recent Diamon League in London, Asher-Smith showed promising signs of improvement with a season's best after a shaky start to the year.

And Gunnell has a 'good feeling' about the sprinter's form ahead of Budapest, setting herself up perfectly for medal contention.

"Somebody who has shown that she's brilliant at getting herself into shape when it matters is Dina," said Gunnell.

"She didn't show that early form this year, but she's been there. She's gone through over the years, and she's learned so much.

"She's got that maturity behind her now and just seeing how well she's gone in the camp and the last race she did at the London Athletics meet, I've got a good feeling about how she'll get on in Budapest.

"It'd be great if she could get a medal as well.

"It's a long season and it's all about peaking at the right time and getting in shape.

"There's no point showing you what you've got in June, it's about showing what you've got in August and Dina can do that."

More than 300 million pounds has been invested in athletics at all levels since National Lottery funding began, helping the team to win over 600 global medals.

Vital investment has 'transformed' athletics, allowing athletes to focus solely on their sporting ambitions through camps, coaches and psychologists - a luxury Gunnell never received.

And with Budapest looming, Gunnell is excited to see the medal count increase. 

"It certainly doesn't feel like 30 years since I broke the record at Worlds," she said.

"I wasn't the most confident of athletes you know, I think especially on that day as well, everybody was expecting me to win and I was dealing with a lot of pressure and wasn't feeling brilliant.

"So to go and win the gold and break a world record was a real feeling of shock and relief and that World Championships was probably my favourite race of all the races that I did.

"And we won a car back then with gold so I was given a Mercedes!"

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