THIS is a pose that Emelia Gorecka will hope to be striking once again this Sunday.
The current European cross country junior champion will defend her title in Budapest this weekend.
Gorecka, 18, from Bookham, scooped bronze in her first outing at the annual event in Portugal in 2010, but went two better last year when she clawed back a huge deficit to claim gold by just a second in Slovenia.
And she is hoping to emulate that success this time around.
She said: "I am definitely not looking for a silver medal [to make it one of every colour at this event]. I'm not looking to go back down having won the gold last year."
There is an added incentive for Gorecka as well - the chance to keep the gold medal in her coach Mick Woods' name.
She said: "I always go out to win for myself, but I would like to keep that first place in the name of Mick Woods.
"I think five of the last six gold medals won at junior level have been his athletes, Steph Twell won three, Charlotte [Purdue] won one and I won last year, so it would be fantastic to win it again and I think there's a good chance of winning again."
Gorecka is expecting to come up against Amela Terzic again, the Serbian athlete who finished second ahead of Gorecka in 2010, and third behind the Bookham runner last year.
It's a challenge Gorecka is looking forward to, though she hopes she doesn't have to pull back a seven-second deficit two years in a row.
She added: "I know Terzic is going to be in the race.
"She came second in the World Juniors in the 1500m, so she has improved, but I came third in the 3000m, so I would like to think that I have improved as well. It will be good to race against her again.
"There are always going to be strong competitors and surprise people so you can't guarantee what's going to happen on the day. It's all about going out there and trying to be in the best shape possible and if you put pressure on yourself it deflects from that.
"I'm just concentrating on myself, trying to run well and keep on improving and whatever race plan I get given I will stick to it."
