Greene, who set a personal best of 48.12 in winning European gold in Barcelona last month, fell just short of the British record of 47.82 Kriss Akabusi set in the same Montjuic stadium in winning Olympic bronze in 1992.

But Greene's effort was enough to surpass Akabusi's stadium record, set in winning the European title 20 years ago.

Jackson, who arrived in Split as the IAAF Samsung Diamond Trophy winner in his event after six straight wins this season, gave the Welshman his chance when he clattered into the final hurdle.

"Bershawn has only been beaten by one other person, Kerron Clement, this season, so to be one of just two people to beat him feels good and gives me a lot of confidence," said Greene.

"In Barcelona I was expected to win, but here I didn’t have the same pressure."

Despite Jackson getting off to a flying start, a minor distraction helped Greene take his focus off his big rival.

"My lane sticker came off during the race and got stuck to my calf, which distracted me," said Greene.

Greene's career has taken a marked upward curve since he linked up two years ago with renowned hurdles coach Malcolm Arnold - former coach to 1972 Olympic 400m Hurdles Champion John Akii-Bua and two-time world 110m hurdles champion Colin Jackson.

Greene broke 49 seconds for the first time in Prague last year.

"I reckon there’s definitely another tenth of a second there and the national record is definitely within reach now," said the 24-year-old.

"It’s something that I have targeted, but I wasn’t thinking about it today.

"For years I’ve been intimidated by sub-48 guys, but now I’m one of them hopefully other athletes will look at me in the same way."

It is not quite the end of the year for Greene, and he will have the chance to capitalise on his good form at next month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

There he sees South Africa’s LJ van Zyl, and not fellow Welshman Rhys Williams, the European silver medallist, as his biggest rival.

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