Double Olympic medallist Nick Dempsey believes he has turned a corner in his quest for Rio windsurfing gold, and is looking forward to challenging at the RS:X World Championships which get underway in Oman on Monday (19 October).

The 35-year-old, one of only two male windsurfers to have previously won two RS:X world titles, has endured an up and down season but feels he has put in the hard yards since August’s Olympic Test Event in Rio to head into the World Championships ‘in a good place’.

“I’m going really well in training. I am matching the best people in the world in training every day and I haven’t done that for probably three years,” he admitted.

“For the first time in a long time I feel I’m where I should be.”

Dempsey is aiming for selection to his fifth and final Olympic Games at Rio 2016 where, if he wins gold, he’ll become the most successful men’s Olympic windsurfer with a silver and bronze already under his belt from 2012 and 2004.

He topped the podium at the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta on his home waters of Weymouth and Portland in June, but was disappointed with a 13th place at the Rio Test Event, resolving to come back stronger for next week’s World Championships at the Al Mussanah Sports City in Oman.

“We’ve trained really hard [since August] and have really focussed on a few very specific areas and those things are working really well,” explained Dempsey, whose World Championship victories came on home waters in 2009 and at the Brazilian venue of Buzios in 2013.

“We’ve been to La Rochelle racing with the French, they’re the best in the conditions that I wanted to work on and we had those conditions when I was there, so that was perfect.

“I’ve been in Oman for two weeks, training with the Chinese and the Polish guy who are the top few in those conditions and it’s been really good training with good people.

Dempsey knows that next week’s world title fight will likely be a tough light wind test, and with both Olympic country and individual qualification at stake for a number of nations, he’s expecting an intriguing battle for the podium positions.

“People arrive at these big high pressure events and everyone changes. Some change for the better, some people change for the worse and some people do nothing at all – which is not good enough.

“It’s the people who step up and do the right things and get the most out of themselves that do best at these big events.”

In the women’s fleet, world number one Bryony Shaw agrees that the heat of the Omani venue coupled with the heat of high stakes competition will make for some tough racing.

“Heads could be lost easily here and when there’s a trials on the line people might do crazy things, or they might perform out of their skin.

“People are affected in different ways, but as with any World Championship I’m sure it will be a fight to the end and probably all down to the medal race.”

The 32-year-old Shaw’s best World Championship finish to date came with a silver medal in 2013. She admits it’s ‘a huge personal target’ to go one better, and will be keeping a close eye on some key rivals in the title chase this week.

“I think definitely Charline [Picon] will be one to watch, and the three Polish are very strong and were second, third and fourth at the Europeans,” said the 2008 bronze medallist, who earned her Ro 2016 call-up last month.

“It’s a big event for the two Spanish girls as well – Marina is the Olympic gold medallist, Blanca is a previous World Champion. There are a couple of up and comers as well like the Dutch girl Lilian, and the Brazilian girl Patricia [Freitas].”

Shaw continued: “We’ve been doing lots of little practice races and there have been signs that I’ve got some potentially really big super strengths to try and perform at this event. I’ll try and draw on those and make sure that I keep a clear head space.

“Training’s been good and my board speed in all conditions seems to be very competitive. I’ve done some acclimatisation training in Weymouth as well that my physiologist assures me is worthwhile!”

Izzy Hamilton will also feature for Great Britain in the 60-strong women’s fleet, aiming to build on her World Championship best of ninth at Santander 2014, while 16-year-old Emma Wilson will gain experience in the senior fleet as part of her build up towards the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in December.

Joining Dempsey in the men’s fleet are British Sailing Team Podium Potential talents Tom Squires, Joe Bennett and Kieran Martin. Racing gets underway on Monday 19 October, with the final medal races for the top ten sailors in each fleet on Saturday 24 October.

Results will be available at http://www.rsxclass.com/worlds2015/  with news and updates via www.britishsailingteam.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @BritishSailing