Natasha Danvers' fine performances in the Sydney Olympics last September took the 23-year-old Shaftesbury Barnet star to the renowned John Smith sprint stable in the USA.

Natasha, who was a shock finalist in the 400m hurdles, has been putting a sharpening edge on her speed in hot company, including Olympic men's 100 metres champion Maurice Greene.

She is bidding to win a medal in the World Championships starting in Edmonton, Canada, tomorrow.

"I'll be looking to make the final again as I did in Sydney, and who knows what might happen," she said.

An outstanding British junior international, Natasha moved to America to further her athletics career while doing studies in the music industry at the University of Southern California and had some excellent results on the inter-collegiate circuit.

She suffered two disappointments earlier this summer. Representing Britain in the European Cup in Bremen, Germany, in June, Natasha hit a hurdle and fell. Then a hamstring injury ruled her out of the British Grand Prix meeting at Crystal Palace in July.

If she is fully fit and hurdles in the same smooth style that earned her a place in the Sydney final, she could win a medal. If she does, Natasha, who writes her own songs, is likely to compose something in celebration.

Triple jumper Larry Achike is undoubtedly the outstanding prospect for a medal among the eight Shaftesbury Barnet contestants in Canada.

Commonwealth champion with a personal best of 17.30m, he looked set for an Olympic bronze when lying third before the final round in Sydney, only to be overtaken by two rivals.

His coach Frank Attoh said: "Larry will probably have to jump 17.50 to get a medal."

But when Achike produced a brilliant jump of 17.21m to finish a close second behind world record holder Jonathan Edwards at Crystal Palace, there were signs that he could pull off a very big leap soon.

Of the six other Shaftesbury members in the team, Catherine Murphy, who runs in the 400m, appears to have the best chance of becoming a finalist.

She made history with a 200m-400m double in the AAA Indoor championships earlier this year and recently improved her personal best in the one-lap event to 51.84sec.

Abi Oyepitan is the fastest British woman over 100m this season with 11.29sec. She showed her potential when second in the European U23 championships in Holland last month.

She is joined by her Shaftesbury colleague Shani Anderson in the 100m and both are included in the 4 x 100m relay squad.

Murphy and Lee McConnell are in the 4 x 400m relay squad.

Eighth behind the world's top two Hicham El Guerrouj and Nyen in the Emsley Carr mile at the British Grand Prix, Anthony Whiteman could reach the 1500m final.

He is a former World Student Games champion and Commonwealth bronze medallist.

Nick Nieland has a career best of 85.09 in the javelin, and a repeat would put him in contention for a place in the final. His season's best is 82.93m.