Eurostar has launched a campaign to put its new Kentish station on the map – with the help of one of the fastest athletes on the planet.

Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes officially opened Ebbsfleet International station on 29 January.

Although Ebbsfleet International – between Dartford and Gravesend – opened to passengers in November, the operator has so far concentrated on promoting the new St Pancras International London terminal.

But now it has launched a television, online and roadside advertising campaign in the catchment areas for the Kent station and revealed a high-profile shortlist of artists being sought to create an iconic £2 million Ebbsfleet Landmark artwork as a symbol of the regeneration of the area.

With her connections with speed, Dame Kelly, who was born and still lives in Kent, was an aptly chosen celebrity to open the station from where Eurostars travel at nearly 200 mph to France and Belgium.

The double Olympic champion – the fastest woman over 800 metres and 1,500 metres at the 2004 games in Athens – said the station is now the natural starting point for a high-speed sprint to the Continent for millions of people living across Essex, Surrey, Sussex and Kent.

Dame Kelly said: “I am delighted to officially open Ebbsfleet International station as the new gateway from the Home Counties to Europe.

“If you want to be world-class in sport or in business you have to seek out and seize opportunities to get ahead, and Ebbsfleet International is now the fastest and greenest way to reach the opportunities of Europe, ahead of the competition.”

While Eurostar trains are already using the station, towards the end of next year it will take on an extra role when Southeastern’s high-speed domestic services from Kent start, with the much-heralded futuristic ‘Javelin’ train.

A reminder of the new services is a full-size mock-up of one of the Hitachi-built coaches displayed on the station concourse. The sleek new train shares space with much older Ebbsfleet exhibits, such as an elephant tusk and ancient pottery, dug up during the construction earthworks.

The station is at the heart of the Ebbsfleet Valley development area which could take 25 years to come to full fruition. Close to the M25 and surrounded by giant car parks, the station is the first tangible infrastructure on the site, once an extensive area of chalk quarries. Some 7,500 homes, offices and business areas are planned initially.

Eurostar is unapologetic about encouraging its passengers to drive to the station – far better, it says, than driving to an airport to use the plane. The company estimates that a centre-to-centre journey from Reigate or Chelmsford via Ebbsfleet International to Paris takes just over four hours, significantly shorter than flying via Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle airports.

Fastrack buses link with local communities and nearby railway stations and rail connections will get a boost next year when Southeastern’s high- speed domestic services plug many Kent stations direct into Ebbsfleet.

At the opening, Eurostar and partners London and Continental Railways and Land Securities also announced the shortlist of internationally-known artists who are competing to design the Ebbsfleet Landmark, designed to pinpoint one of the largest regeneration areas in Europe.

Standing more than 40 metres high – similar in size to Nelson’s Column or the statue of Christ overlooking Rio De Janeiro – the structure will be clearly visible to train, plane and road users.

Over the next three months Daniel Buren, Richard Deacon, Christopher Le Brun, Mark Wallinger and Rachel Whiteread will develop proposals for the site and the selected artist will then work with a team of structural engineers to complete the landmark during 2010.