JACK CARLIN may still be only 22-years-old, but already he is at the stage of his career that if he leaves a major championship empty-handed, he is disappointed.

Next week will be no different.

On Wednesday, Carlin will begin his campaign at the World Track Cycling Championships in Berlin, and he has his sights set on adding to the two worlds silver medals he won in 2018.

He has a busy schedule over the five days, with the Paisley man riding the team sprint, keirin and the individual sprint.

And while Carlin is never one to shout about his medal chances, he is quietly confident about his prospects.

“Training has been going well so I’m ready to go,” he said.

“I’m definitely in the best physical shape I’ve been in. And mentally, I feel the most confident I’ve been going into a race week. I’m in a good place.”

In the past few years, Carlin has established himself as a true world-class rider and, despite his youth, comfortably holds his own in a team sprint squad alongside the likes of six-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny.

The Scot has racked up world, European and Commonwealth medals in recent times and in a typical year, Carlin and his compatriots would be peaking for these World Championships. However with the Tokyo Olympics now only five months away, there is a bigger target this season which means that next week is not the be all and end all for Carlin.

That does not mean though he will go to Berlin entirely unconcerned about his results though.

“These World are a bit of a marker for the Olympics but you don’t want to turn up just to make up the numbers – you want to go there and compete,” he said.

“If I walk away with a medal, yes I’ll be pleased but you always want more, you always want to be world champion.

"If we go in and give a really good performance in the team sprint then anything in the individual events will be a bit of a bonus this time round.

“We’ll start switching our focus after the Worlds and start focusing a bit more on the individual events if it’s gone well.

“The aim is obviously to win but it’s also about gathering data and experience at the World Champs ahead of the Olympics because at the end of the day, I’d rather be Olympic champion than World champion.”

Carlin’s progress as part of the British Cycling squad has been quite remarkable and as one of their leading riders, he will go to Tokyo with considerable expectation upon his shoulders.

GB have won Olympic gold in the team sprint at the past three Games and while the Dutch are currently the ones setting the standard, GB track cyclists always seem to manage to pull it out when it really matters.

For some, the pressure of going into their first Olympic Games as a medal prospect would be a heavy load to bear but Carlin insists he has never been one to be affected by pressure and Tokyo 2020 is far from all-consuming for him.

“A lot of people say they think about the Olympics day in, day out but I’m not like that, I’ve barely thought about it to be honest. I take it one day at a time,” he said.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself and if you take each day as it comes, stay focused and do everything you can then the results will show.

"The Olympics is in the back of the mind but there’s other things there, like the World Champs for a start.

"At the end of the day, you’re one injury or one illness away from not competing at the Olympics at all so you don’t want to get yourself so wound up about it because if it then didn’t happen, your word would crumble.

"So I prefer to take each day as it comes and then when selections are made, that’s when you can start focusing on the Olympics and thinking about taking a real step up.”

Also part of the British team in Berlin are Scots, Katie Archibald and Neah Evans who are aiming for gold in the team pursuit following their European gold last year.