Anna Blyth

July 19-23; Athens Olympic Velodrome

Two medals at the Worlds and one at the Europeans made 2005 a good year for Anna who was and still is, relatively new to cycling compared too many on the squad.

The former hockey player says this year though has been blighted by a knee injury which put her back a few months.

"It put me behind but I feel I have caught up and am really happy with where I am at the moment . I'm faster in my 200, I feel a lot stronger and tactically I am a lot better than last year."

"Apart of the time out for the injury, I've had a good year of solid training and having the experience of having done the championships last year has also help give me a lot of confidence. I feel a lot more assured knowing what to expect but I wouldn't say I'm relaxed either."

"I am nervous and although I don't feel under pressure from anyone, I still put pressure on myself because of what I did last year and I think its natural to be nervous." Anna went on to say that it has also helped having the regular training camps and that after having been on it a lot, she starts to feel better and more confident within herself."

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Anna gives it full gas as she holds off Lucy Ayres during a training race effort.

"Coming to the track, training and racing with everyone else is really good because we have a good laugh and that makes it enjoyable. So going as a big group to the championships is going to be a great experience for us all and make it so much easier. It also helps being with people you know because you can come back from the track and chill out with them which makes it easier on us."

Anna in Athens will be doing three events, Sprint, Keirin and 500 TT and says that the sprint is her favourite but they all have something special about them. So having a former World Sprint Champion in for the week helping with their preparation has also been good for the sprinters with Anna admitting they've been spoilt having both Craig MacLean and Jan van Eijden helping them at different times.

Talking about Jan who was with them for the whole week at Newport prior to leaving for Athens, Anna says "Jan has been such a big help as he knows so much and is a nice guy as well. We have learnt a lot from him. Having someone on the track you respect adds another dimension to the training. Like the drills we were doing earlier on, unless you sit down and talk about it, it's not something you can pick up and know what to do in that situation. And then last night we were looking at some sprint videos and he was picking out stuff and that all helps us."