Annie Last is looking to continue her comeback from injury in style at this weekend’s Mountain Bike World Championships in Norway.
The 23-year-old missed the majority of 2013 and 2014 with a back injury but has since returned to competition in July.
Last kicked off her comeback with an impressive fourth-place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before recording finishes of 11th, 13th and 13th in World Cup events in Canada, USA and France.
And the British champion is hopeful she can maintain her form as she turns her attentions to the world stage once again.
"I’m really looking forward to the World Championships,” said Last. "I had a really extended period not being able to race so for me at the minute I'm really enjoying being able to be back racing my bike again.
"I'm really enjoying it and with every race I do I'm looking forward to the next one and to be able to move on more and go faster, push myself more and move up through the field.
“I'm hoping that I'll be able to improve on my performance in France and hopefully move up through the field a bit more and come out with the good result."
Last’s extended absence from competition meant that she missed the final round of the 2013 World Cup in Hafjell, which acted as the test event for the 2014 World Championships, losing the opportunity to get early intelligence on the course she will face on Saturday.
"I don't know what the course is going to be like yet,” she admitted. “I watched the race online last year but I think there have been quite a few changes made to it.
“Starting towards the back, the course has quite a big impact on how the race goes,” Last continued, who is likely to start in the 40s on the grid, which is ordered according to current UCI ranking.
"Last weekend in Meribel there were not that many passing places on the course, which meant that starting towards the back and there being a crash at the start that I was behind.”
© Sportsbeat 2014