On the eve of the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, UK Athletics Performance Director Dave Collins today expressed his confidence that the occasion will be a challenging but successful one for the Norwich Union GB&NI team in terms of athlete development.

With most of the team now in Japan ahead of the Championships starting in the Nigai Stadium tomorrow, Collins said he believes the 56-strong outfit has a realistic chance of meeting and beating personal goals, as the young team sets out its stall for the future.

Despite injury preventing selection or limiting preparation for some athletes, he said training in Macau had gone well and athletes were now keen to deliver.

He said: “Osaka will bring some real challenges for our athletes, the competition and conditions will make for a very tough championships.

"But we have brought the strongest team possible, we have prepared professionally and with the right approach our athletes have the capability to more than do themselves justice.

“We have enjoyed a successful preparation camp in Macau, where the team have been able to acclimatize and where they have utilized the considerable expertise of support staff to focus on their immediate and long-term goals.

“There are plenty of athletes in this team who are still in the developmental stages of their athletics careers, but if we can see something of the steely determination we saw at last year’s European Championships and March’s European Indoors, there is no reason why this cannot be a successful championship for them.

“After Osaka, we want to be able to see that we have raised our standards, which offers the basis for further improvement in Beijing and beyond.”