Eurosport - Mon, 06 Jul 12:13:00 2009
Olympic silver medallist Phillips Idowu insists nothing but gold will do at August's World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
The 2008 world indoor champion (pictured) has long been tipped as Britain's successor to world record holder and Sydney 2000 gold medallist Jonathan Edwards.
But as yet, the 30-year-old Londoner has failed to deliver on the big stage, and was edged out at the Beijing Olympics by Portugal's Nelson Evora.
Evora, as well as being the reigning world champion, defeated Idowu at the European Team Championships in Portugal last month.
But Idowu is adamant he will be in perfect shape by the time he gets to Berlin, and refused to let his rivals blown him off course this time around.
"I've shown already this season what I am capable of and I've jumped 17.60m twice this season already and I'm in the sort of shape where I can do that again," said Idowu, who is also the reigning Commonwealth champion.
"The World Championships are in less than two months time so every competition between now and then is an important part of my preparations.
"I want to get to Berlin in the best possible form and there's no reason I can't win the gold, so that is what I have to focus on.
"I know what it's like to be the best in the world, and so I just have to concentrate on what I'm doing to get there again.
"I don't look at what everyone else is doing and or let that worry me. I know what I've got to do and I just focus on that."
And Idowu has already picked out the Aviva London Grand Prix on July 24 to prove he will head to Germany at the very top of his game.
"The London Grand Prix is going to be important for me to see exactly where I'm at as it will be the last major competition I do before hopefully heading off to Berlin," he added.
"It will be a great event with a high level of competition but all I have to do is focus on producing big jumps, not what everyone else is doing."
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