Just under a year has passed since Sophie Hitchon emerged from the shadows to win Olympic hammer bronze.
But now, 12 months on from Rio, she’s back and eyeing to a return to the podium - this time on home soil at the World Athletics Championships in London.
At the last edition of the championships, in Beijing two years ago, Hitchon finished just outside of the medals in fourth place.
This time around, she’s got home advantage on her back, and that’s something she’s keen to build upon as she makes her return to the London Stadium for the first time since the Olympic Games in 2012.
She started her campaign in comfortable style on Saturday, requiring just one throw to book her spot in Monday’s final.
Her effort of 73.05m was the second furthest of her qualifying group, just 1.92m shy of the leading throw from Poland’s Malwina Kopron.
And while Hitchon insists there’s plenty still to come in Monday’s final, she’s not getting too carried away as she moves one step closer to the silverware.
“In qualification rounds, you just have to make it through, no matter how you do it,” she said. “It’s nice to get it done in the first round, it’s just all about being in the final now.
“Things have been going well, but it’s all about what happens on the day. You could wake up one morning and it all feels a bit weird, but I’ll just come back and execute again on Monday night.
“In 2012, I got through qualification with a PB, so hopefully it can go as well this time as then. In Rio, it didn’t go my way in qualification, because it’s never the easiest thing.
“It’s a different competition when you get to the final. It does your confidence the world of good.
“I don’t come in thinking I’m going to win a medal. Just because I won a medal last year, everyone knows it doesn’t work like that.
“Every competition is different, it’s all about coming in and trying to do the best you can.”
There was joy too for Asha Philip as she qualified for the 100m semi-finals in 11.14 seconds, where she will be joined by fellow Brits Daryll Neita and Desiree Henry.
There will also be big British representation in the men’s 800m semi-finals, with fine running from Guy Learmonth ensuring his place alongside Elliot Giles and Kyle Langford in the next round.
Eager to take her opportunity to shine on home soil, Katarina Johnson-Thompson made a promising start to the heptathlon to sit fifth after two events on 2053 points.
Her time of 13.33 seconds in the 100mH was just shy of her lifetime best, but she fell to a shock early exit in the high jump after failing to clear 1.86m.
Elsewhere, it was disappointment for Martyn Rooney, after he missed out on the opportunity to join Matt Hudson-Smith and Dwayne Cowan in the 400m semi-finals.
Rooney, 2016 European champion over the distance, clocked a time of 45.75 seconds, just shy of the result needed to seal a berth in the next round.
But it won’t be the last the crowd sees of the 30-year-old at these championships, with another opportunity for success coming up in the 4x400m relay later in the week.
“That was tough. It is the World Championships so every round is going to be tough,” he said.
“I really wanted to go out there and enjoy the experience. I had a nice pacemaker in LaShawn Merritt on the outside of me, but it would have been nice to have held onto him a bit more.
“I’m an honest guy, and this is where I’m at. I’ve maybe got two or three tenths more in me but that’s it.
“But if that means I’m ready for the relay, then that’s all that matters.”
Sportsbeat 2017