OXFORD’S Hannah England is not getting sidetracked by medal talk as she prepares to compete in the World Championships this weekend.

The 26-year-old Oxford City athlete claimed a superb silver in the 1,500m at the last World Championships in Daegu, but injury curtailed her hopes of an Olympic medal a year later.

Now fully fit again, England, who goes in the heats on Sunday, is one of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s podium prospects in Moscow.

“A great World Championship would be getting in the final and running an excellent race and if I do that, I walk off happy,” she said.

“I don’t want to be stressed and focused on medals – the main thing is running the best race I can.”

England qualified for Moscow by winning her third UK title last month and her season’s best time of 4mins 3.38secs ranks her 12th in the world this year.

She feels her event is “incredibly unpredictable” and knows she has a lot to live up to from 2011 when she was a real outsider.

“It was really awesome to win silver and have something to show for all the hard work,” said England.

“To do that at 24 was really good and put the bar really high. It’s going to be hard to match that, but it’s a good problem to have.”

Athletics has been hit by fresh drug scandals this season, with Turkey’s Olympic 1,500m champion Asli Cakir Alptekin among those to have tested positive.

England said: “I think it’s a real shame. As an athlete who trains incredibly hard, to find someone has been taking short cuts leaves a nasty taste in your mouth.”

Now England – who has a potential semi-final next Tuesday and final on Thursday – and her clean colleagues have a chance to hit the headlines for the right reasons.