Rio Olympic Games medal hope Caroline Buchanan is trading an Australian farewell tour for laying the groundwork to what she hopes will be the biggest moment of her career in Rio.
Buchanan will race in the BMX world championships this weekend, with the event in Columbia doubling as the final Olympic qualifier before the Rio Games.
![Canberra BMX queen Caroline Buchanan.](/web/20160528162505im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/r/w/8/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gp4x6c.png/1464338274513.jpg)
Canberra's Buchanan has already secured her Olympic spot and is chasing a BMX world championship triumph for the first time since 2013 to continue her solid preparation for a gold-medal tilt.
Four years ago Buchanan was soaking up the build up to her first Olympics, which ultimately finished in disappointment when she crossed the line fifth in the gold-medal race.
She has been invited to several farewell parties and black-tie events in Australia, but the 25-year-old has narrowed her focus to ensure she throws everything into her Rio campaign.
That means spending almost eight months on the road and only returning to the capital after the Olympics.
"It's really tough being away from home, it's a very different build up to these Games," Buchanan told Fairfax Media.
"I keep getting emails and invitations to different uniform launches and farewell events ... all these fun things that are associated with the Olympics.
"I was invited to a lot of those before the Olympics in London and it was so exciting. But for me to go to London and then not perform, I was devastated. I knew my focus was different this time.
"Through all of this plan that we set in place in October last year ... it was going to be hard to be away from home and sacrifice a lot of things like missing that Olympics build up in Australia, but for me I'm right where I want to be.
"I want to walk away from Rio stoked. I don't want to be stoked with the journey and bummed with the result."
Buchanan has been using San Diego as her training base at the United States Olympic training centre which also boasts a replica of the track she will ride in Rio.
She has been training against some of her Olympic medal rivals, giving her a constant measure of her gold chances at Rio in August.
Buchanan goes into the world championships as the No. 1-ranked rider after a stellar start to her year, including World Cup wins and impressive form on the international circuit.
But she is chasing the world championship rainbow stripes knowing that she has faltered in the past two years, crashing in one campaign and then finishing second last year.
Buchanan already has five world titles to her name and knows she can send a message to her Olympic rivals with another win.
"It's a clean slate when the world championships come around," Buchanan said.
"Any race I go into, I've always got the attitude of throwing myself into and wanting nothing but No. 1.
"This is separate from the Olympic Games. There are two world titles up for grabs – one in the time trial and one in the race. It's an honour to be a world champion and it can never be taken away from you."
There will be extra motivation as soon as Buchanan arrives at the track named in honour of Mariana Pajon, the defending Olympic champion and one of her biggest competitors.
"It's her stomping ground ... I'm mentally prepared that it's going to be a crazy South American vibe and Mariana's going to be that home-town girl," Buchanan said.
"It's definitely got the feel of being an Olympic trial run to perform. Mariana's the queen of BMX in South America, she's like Justin Bieber. But it's a good mental test for me.
"I've got to know my strength and weaknesses and the same for my competitors. For me, a big thing this year is that I've been able to win from different places.
"The last three times I won, I've won out of lane one, lane five and lane three. I've used different tactics and won from different situations which is massive knowing the unpredictable nature of BMX."