Inverness’ Mhairi Spence insists it is her to time to shine at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships at Crystal Palace this weekend.

The 23-year-old has been a revelation since the new run/shoot format was introduced in November 2008 – registering a fifth place finish at the Rome World Cup in May.

She is one of the few to see her performances improve since the introduction of the new format, which sees the 3000m run split up into three 1000m runs and intersected with the shooting event.

And despite her best World Championship performance to date being a 12th place finish in 2006, Spence believes she is ready to challenge the world’s best.

“The combined event has been pretty good for me – my 3000m run was one of my worst events so doing three 1000m runs has been a lot better,” she said.

“That’s obviously where I’ve gained – and my shooting was good anyway.

“I want to make the final and then I’d like to finish in the top eight – that’s a good position for me to finish.

“But I’ve always got a shot at a medal, I just don’t want to aim too high.

“If I do everything right then there’s no reason why I can’t win a medal but we’ll have to just wait and see.”