Lacena Golding-Clarke (second right) poses with World Championships mascot, Berlino (third right), Sports Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange (third left), as well as Omar Brown (left) and wife Veronica Campbell-Brown (second left), and Leford Green upon their arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport on Thursday.- Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

IT'S just a few days into her holidays and sprint hurdler Lacena Golding-Clarke is already thinking about next season, targeting medals at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, and the Commonwealth Games scheduled for New Delhi, India.

The 34-year-old former Vere Technical standout was among a group of athletes who returned to the island on Thursday ahead of this weekend's celebrations in recognition of the outstanding performances at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany, in August.

Golding-Clarke, a former Commonwealth Games champion, will spend two weeks in Jamaica before heading back to the United States where she resides with her husband, fellow Jamaica Olympian Davian Clarke, for another two weeks before returning to training.

The former long jump contender, who posted her third fastest time of 12.73 seconds in the 100M hurdles at the Réthimno GP in July after returning from surgery last year, is pleased with her progress throughout the year and is focusing on medalling at next year's top meets.

Said Golding-Clarke: "I'm very satisfied I ran 12.73 after having surgery last year so I'm very pleased that I can still compete without feeling a lot of pain. Even though I didn't win a medal, I'm happy because that was still a fast time.

"I'm looking forward to the World Indoor Championships. I have always gone there but never really focused on winning so this year (next season) I'm focusing on winning. I'm going out there to train this off-season and I'm going to Doha to win that gold medal," she affirmed.

She pointed to a number of technical areas that she will be working on and stressed that she will be paying special attention to the last half of her races.

"There is always room for improvement, but I have noticed that in most of my races this year, I am always in front for the first five hurdles. So I'm keeping that in mind for running over five hurdles. I'm just going to focus on getting to the finish line before anybody else. So that's my goal and, hopefully, I'll come back home with a gold medal," Golding-Clarke said.

delighted

Meanwhile, she expressed delight at being back home and said that she is looking forward to getting some rest, after a long and challenging season.

"I'm so happy, I'm always happy to come home because most of my family is still here, I'm only in America because of my husband. I will be spending two weeks here and two weeks back home (United States). I only have four weeks' break so I will be taking all of the rest that I can get because my body needs it," smiled Golding-Clarke.