Dominick Cunningham and co will hope to all-but seal their qualification for Tokyo 2020 at the Gymnastics World Championships in Doha.
A top-three finish should be enough to ensure that the five-strong men’s squad, featuring double-Olympic champion Max Whitlock, get the chance to defend the five medals that they won in Rio.
But 23-year-old Cunningham – making his World Championships debut in Qatar after he became European champion in the floor discipline back in August – just wants to take it one event at a time.
“It’s all about stepping stones. This is my first World Championships, so I’m jumping in at the deep end, and my first focus has got to be getting to finals rather than medals,” he said.
“I want to start making a name for myself, that’s what drives me. Even when I won the gold medal in Glasgow, the headlines were about Max not winning on pommel.
“But once I’ve done that, who knows? I’ve never really competed against the Chinese and Japanese guys but I want them to notice me and say: ‘where on earth has this guy come from?'”
Cunningham has enjoyed the best year of his young gymnastics career this season, taking silver in the team event in the Europeans after winning gold and bronze medals at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
Whitlock and Cunningham form two of the five-strong squad in Qatar, with James Hall, Joe Fraser and Brinn Bevan rounding off what is becoming something of a slick line-up – even in the absence of Rio bronze medallist Nile Wilson, who misses out through injury.
And despite his form cementing his status as a key member of the team, it has taken some time for Cunningham to get his head around the company he keeps.
“I needed something to happen this year or I probably couldn’t have continued. It’s not an easy ride but I’m driven by the increasing belief that this kind of company is where I belong,” he said.
“Mentally, it’s been very tough this year because we’ve got to stay right at the top for three major competitions – the Commonwealths, the Europeans and now the Worlds.” Sportsbeat 2018