Sarah Carli knows what she has to do to mix it with the world's best.
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She knows she's not quite there yet, but she's confident it won't be long before she gets there.
With an Olympic qualifier locked in, the 400 metres hurdler has eliminated much of the stress of the run to Tokyo.
Carli won't have to spend the next six months chasing races, the pressure building with each missed opportunity.
Instead, she can use the first half of 2021 building towards the biggest event of her young career.
Having run 55.09 seconds at Bankstown last weekend, the 26-year-old is looking to shave a further second off her personal best by the time she arrives in Tokyo for the rescheduled Olympics.
"To make an Olympic final you have to run a 54-low, or maybe even dip under 54," Carli said. "Everyone seems to run faster in an Olympic year, but once you're under 55, that makes you international standard.
"I think I can get down to 54, if I can get down to a low 54 that will be very competitive, that's my goal.
"Every athlete's goal when they go to the Olympics is to make the final, now it's actually something that's in reach. It's not unrealistic."
Carli moved one step closer to competing at the Olympics at the prestigious Albie Thomas Mile competition in Sydney, Kembla Joggers' Keely Small taking out the elite women's mile race.
The elite 400m hurdles race also boasted an Illawarra flavour, Carli joined by three of her training partners.
Coach Mel Logan has built a talented squad, with multiple athletes running personal best times in tricky conditions.
In running the qualifier, Carli eclipsed the time she ran at last year's World Championships.
There she finished seventh in the semi-final, her goal for Tokyo to qualify for the final.
In a promising sign for Carli, last week's race was her first 400m hurdles event of the season.
Her best, she feels, is to come.
"We're still in our second phase of training, I haven't even started my competition phase yet. We haven't got to the super lactic speed sessions yet.
"I'll sit down with Mel in the new year to make a plan. Now I don't need to be running fast domestically, I don't have to chase key races anymore. We can work backwards from July and focus on running fast at the Olympics."
Once she arrives in Tokyo, should the Games go ahead, Carli knows she'll have a different mindset to Doha a year ago.
"I'm going to have more confidence. With the World Championships, I didn't get any international races beforehand, I was coming in a bit blind.
"This year I'm going to have more confidence and know I deserve to be there."