NATHAN Douglas knows he will need to be fully committed in Berlin as he sets his sights on challenging for a European Championships medal.

The Oxford City AC athlete takes to the runway tomorrow afternoon for the qualifying round of the men’s triple jump.

Douglas is competing in his second major championships of the year after finishing fifth in the Commonwealth Games and is eyeing a first international medal since 2007.

The 35-year-old has been in good form, with a wind-assisted 16.83m helping him become British outdoor champion for a sixth time last month.

Douglas, whose career has been plagued by injury, is in high spirits after competing regularly, but is hungry to improve.

He said: “It’s been good, it’s what I’ve needed.

“I needed consistent competitions. That brings confidence – and in the triple jump you need to have heaps of it, you kind of need to have a kamikaze approach.

“I feel like I’ve not had a distance I can jump.

“I know I jumped 16.83 at the British Championships, but it was slightly windy so I don’t really count it.”

The first hurdle for Douglas, ranked 15th in Europe, is getting into the top 12 at the Olympiastadion to qualify for Sunday’s final.

But with only six athletes in Europe jumping more than 17m this year, he is feeling confident of springing a surprise.

And he is hoping to use his memories from the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, when he jumped 17.21 to win silver, to his advantage.

Douglas said: “That does help.

“It’s good to have those positive memories, knowing you’ve been there, knowing you’ve already medalled.

“It’s better than believing, when you know you’ve done it you know it’s possible to do it again.

“That’s nice for sure and looking at the rankings no-one has jumped out of this world.

“When you know you’ve jumped 16.83, you feel like you can contend and on the day the final will be wide open.”

Since damaging ankle ligaments in 2011, Douglas’s injuries have been well-documented.

A thigh issue ruled him out of the 2012 Olympics, before a pinched knee and tight calf led to him missing out on the Rio Games in 2016.

But over the last 24 months he has competed in 20 events, two more than the previous three years combined.

At the end of last season, he set his sights on competing at all three major events in 2018.

Despite not qualifying for March’s IAAF World Indoor Championships, Douglas is upbeat about his 13th season as a senior athlete.

He said: “Two out of three, one of them I still have to wait for, but if I were to look back, it’s not been too bad.

“I would’ve loved to have gone to the World Indoors.

“With the Commonwealths, I came away from that pretty disappointed because I was really up for getting that gold medal.

“That’s still pulls on me, but I have to put that behind me.

“It’s good, it’s still a step in the right direction.”