If there's anything Australian long jumper Brooke Stratton learnt from last month's world indoor athletics championships, it's that she belongs among the world's best.
In August last year, Stratton felt slightly out of her depth at the world outdoor titles in Beijing - her first major senior international event.
The 22-year-old finished seventh there with a best jump of 6.64m.
When she faced the same girls a second time at the indoors in Portland two weeks ago, Stratton's perspective had changed - she genuinely believed she was good enough to be there.
She placed fifth with 6.75m, an "awesome" result given she'd never competed in indoor conditions before.
The catalyst for the new-found self-confidence was the national record she'd set just days earlier.
At the Perth Track Classic, Stratton leapt into Olympic medal contention with a 7.05m jump that bettered the previous Australian mark of 7m set by Bronwyn Thompson in 2002.
It would have been good enough to win bronze at both the London 2012 Olympic Games and last year's world championships and was 20cm better than the gold medal-winning effort at the 2014 world indoors.
"In Beijing I'd never competed against those girls before," she said on Friday after qualifying first in her preliminary round at the national championships in Sydney.
"I lacked a little bit of confidence and was quite intimidated.
"But now, having jumped 7.05m I've got a lot of confidence in myself and know that I belong out there with them.
"I've got to be confident in my ability when I'm up against these girls because I really can match it with them if I'm at my best."
Stratton, who has already bettered the qualifying standard for Rio, said she's recovered well from the world indoors and is aiming to crack 7m again in Sunday's final.
And now she holds that special status she's allowing herself to think big.
"I guess anything's possible, especially for the future," she said.
"I'm only 22 so I'm not at my peak yet, which is pretty crazy.
"I'd hope to think that I could reach the 7.20s one day in the future.
"But little improvements are what I'm looking for at the moment, even though I've improved 32cm already this season - that was a bit unexpected."
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