Hot, humid conditions have convinced Matthew Glaetzer he can shatter his own 1km time trial world record at the track national championships.
South Australian Glaetzer became the first man to break the one-minute mark at sea level (59.970 seconds) in November at the Manchester World Cup.
But the 25-year-old is confident he can rewrite the history books on Thursday at the Anna Meares Velodrome, where he will return in April for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Not only is the track newer, smoother and with wider bends, the oppressive Brisbane humidity means he will glide through the air even quicker.
"It's definitely a track to break some records on," 10-time national champion Glaetzer told reporters on Wednesday.
"I didn't expect to break the record when I did in the kilo.
"It's an event that I'm really gunning for - you just give it a crack."
Glaetzer will sandwich the time trial between team sprint qualifying and finals on Thursday's opening day of the championships, before starting his sprint campaign on Friday and lining up on Sunday in the keirin.
"I think I'll be in the best form I'll have been in my career at that point, so it's exciting to see what I can do," he said.
"It won't be easy but I'm pretty optimistic about my chances."
The national titles will have no bearing on who makes the Commonwealth Games - the selection period ends on Wednesday and the team has all but been picked, with an announcement due in mid-February.
But almost all of the country's top track cyclists - except Cameron Meyer, who is racing in the Herald Sun Tour - will be involved.
It's also seen as vital preparation for the Commonwealth Games which, itself, is being treated as a dress rehearsal for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo - the true test of new Cycling Australia high performance boss Simon Jones' controversial new regime.
"Some of the other countries are going to have to fly in (without seeing the track) but we get to hold our national championships on it," sprinter Stephanie Morton said.
"It'll be important in the sense of running through lines and just getting to know the track because, you can have all the speed and power, but it's really that tactical stuff that will give you the edge."
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