GWENT ace Jamie Baulch stormed back to form at the world indoor championships in Birmingham.

The Risca flyer stormed to victory in his 400m heat in 46.44secs and proved he's heading back to form.

It should Baulch, who now lives in Marshfield, going into today's semi-final at the NEC full of confidence as he bids to recapture the indoor crown he won back in 1999.

Baulch has been given an extra spur with deadly British rival Daniel Caines taunting him in the build-up to the championships by claiming the 29-year-old Welshman was "past it". Caines, though, looked impressive himself yesterday as he finished first in his heat in 45.85secs - five tenths of a second ahead of American Tyree Washington.

Elsewhere, another American Justin Gatlin ruined the hopes of a British 60 metres victory on home soil.

With both European champion Jason Gardener and Mark Lewis-Francis impressively making the final, there was genuine anticipation the blue riband gold medal might finally finish up in British hands.

But the "Gatlin Gun" l kept the title in American hands for a third successive championships.

The 21-year-old's mid-race pick-up after a decent start shot away the hopes that one of the two talented Britons would finally improve on the silver medals won by Linford Christie in 1991 and Darren Braithwaite four years later.

There was minor consolation for Gardener. The "Bath Bullet" was third behind Gatlin and Kim Collins, matching the bronze he claimed four years ago.

Gardener was disappointed - but not as much as Lewis-Francis. Determined to impress in front of his home crowd, the 20-year-old Birchfield Harrier was "gutted" after finishing one place outside the medals.

Nine months ago Gatlin would never have believed he would be making his first transatlantic crossing, never mind winning his first ever major international title in a world-class time of 6.46secs.

Born in Brooklyn, the Tennessee student thought his athletics career was finished after failing a drugs test in 2001.

When amphetamine was found in a test Gatlin was banned for the mandatory two years. But the IAAF took the unexpected step of reinstating the hottest talent to come out of a US College since the emergence of former world record holder Maurice Greene.