Lori Ewing, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Since capturing bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep had mapped out this year to challenge for gold at the world track and field championships.

Virtually everything has gone according to plan.

The hurdler from Whitby, Ont., boasts the third fastest time in the world this year, and has clocked three of her four fastest times in her last three races, capped by a victory at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm, Sweden in her final race before the world championships.

"Any time you can run a fast time heading into any event is great," Lopes-Schliep said. "Now all of us girls who will be lining up at worlds are tuning up and on any given day any one of us can rise to the occasion to claim the medal.

"I am feeling great heading into worlds. I am going to keep my head up high and smile no matter what the result is as this has been my most consistent season to date. I have nothing but to be grateful for everything that has happened."

Canada has a team of 31 athletes competing at the world championships, which run Saturday through Aug. 23 in Berlin, Germany. The team's goal is two medals, with the best chances coming from Lopes-Schliep and teammate Perdita Felicien in the 100-metre hurdles, Gary Reed in the men's 800, Dylan Armstrong in the men's shot put, and the men's 4x100-metre relay.

"The team is good this year, there are definitely a few veterans missing from the team but we are a strong and young healthy team," said Reed.

Reed and Felicien captured Canada's two medals, both silver, at the world championships two years ago in Osaka, Japan.

Canada could conceivably capture two medals in the women's hurdles alone. American Lolo Jones, who has the world leading time, crashed out in the semifinals at the U.S. championships and didn't make the squad for Berlin.

Felicien, who's rebounding from a foot injury that kept her off the track last summer, has the sixth fastest time in the world, and knows what it takes to win gold - she won the world championships in 2003 in Paris.

"Our veteran core of athletes, those who have had consistent international success - Reed, Felicien, Lopes, Armstrong - are leading and reinforcing the focus on being fully prepared and professionally responsible," said Athletics Canada head coach Alex Gardiner.

Despite being one of two medallists last time around, Reed said he doesn't feel any extra pressure to perform in Germany.

"The pressure I put on myself to perform is more than enough," said the runner from Kamloops, B.C. "There is always added pressure but nobody wants me to do well more than me, so it makes it easy to deflect any added pressure and focus on myself."

Two years ago, Reed was nipped at the finish by 0.01 seconds by Kenyan Alfred Yego for gold. That's ancient history heading into Berlin.

"Whatever happened a few years ago is gone now and my focus is strictly on the task at hand," said Reed, who was fourth in Beijing. "This year is way deeper than a few years ago, and every race is a new one."

Lopes-Schliep said that her performance in Beijing - Canada's only medal on the track at the Bird's Nest Stadium - was the big confidence boost she needed heading into this season.

"Last year's medal for me was a turning point in my career when I needed it most," she said. "I had a tough 2008 season that involved a fall at world indoors and surgery on my lower abdomen (for an ovarian cyst). Winning that medal was icing on the cake, it was proof that all the hard work I put in over the years was paying off."

The Canadian team has been training in Kamen, Germany ahead of the world championships, which for Lopes-Schliep meant fine-tuning on her starts.

"What we will be continuing to work on is being more aggressive out of the blocks," she said. "My second half of the race has been very strong and if I can get that start a little bit stronger I feel that my chances of winning are that much better."

Gardiner said the camp in Kamen has been among the best the team's ever held.

"The training location is ideal," he said. "The organizers have responded to our needs in remarkable ways including building a new shot circle in one day for Dylan Armstrong as the old one was sloping a few centimetres. Best place we've been so far."

There are few notable absences on this year's world championship team. Tyler Christopher, a former world bronze medallist in the 400 metres, has had a tumultuous season of coaching changes and then pulled up with a hamstring injury at the Canadian championships.

Veteran middle-distance runner Kevin Sullivan, who has been on every world championship team since 1993, is recovering from a partially torn Achilles tendon and won't make the trip.

Heptathlete Jessica Zelinka, fifth at the Beijing Olympics, is sitting out the season after giving birth to her first child.

"I'm generally pleased with this team because those that have been selected have shown that they are ready to compete at their highest level at the right time of the year," Gardiner said.

"We know there are another half dozen athletes who are capable of competing in finals here but due to injuries or program design are not in top form this year. We do expect them to perform at increasingly higher levels as we get closer to London (2012 Olympics)."