Liam Heath believes he's ready to cause some ripples at this weekend's sprint canoeing World Cup in the Czech Republic.
The Olympic K2 200m bronze medallist has been in great form this season after a perfect injury-free winter training schedule.
He produced the fastest K1 200m of the domestic season, beating Olympic champion Ed McKeever into second place at the Spring Regatta, and is excited about what he might produce in Racice in what will be his first international race since last year's World Championships.
“Every effort you do feels like you're going flat-out but you can always analyse it and see where you could make improvements,” he said.
“Everyone says the first season after an Olympics is easier but I don't think that's really true in the case of the 200 because it's a fairly new event, and every time there is a race the times seem to be pushed on.
“Certainly last season wasn’t an easier one because everyone was going quicker than the year before. I'm expecting that to happen again this year.”
Heath also paid credit to sprint coach Alex Nikonorov and GB head coach Scott Gardner for their meticulous planning and attention to detail every step of the way on the road to Rio.
“The main thing I rely on and focus on is Alex’s training cycles which he puts in place,” continued Heath, who won silver medals with Jon Schofield in the Racice and Szeged World Cups last year.
“They've really come through for us in the past and we really trust those cycles and routines to make us go quicker.
"Scott has been building good foundations with team work and team attitudes to make us all perform to our best ability. When we go away we are far more of a unit.”
© Sportsbeat 2014