This year I'm in better shape, so it'll be interesting to see what happens

Steve Backley

Zelezny has been a hard man to beat for Backley

"Jan managed to squeeze out a couple of extra centimetres. But this year I'm in better shape, so it'll be interesting to see what happens."

Although Zelezny will start the final as favourite - would you back against him with that record? - Finland's Aki Parviainen, the reigning world champion, has the longest throw of the year at 92.41m.

The silver medallist from two years ago, Greece's Kostas Gatsioudis, has also thrown over 90m while Russian Sergey Makarov, whose father took Olympic silver in 1980, and all three of the German throwers could take gold.

"With a major championships, with all the pressure and excitement, you never really know what people are going to do," explained Backley.

"The reality is that a personal best might not be enough to win it - but I could also throw well within my best and win.

"The distance thing has to be ignored. You have to think of it in terms of a mark in the field, and I've got to throw further than that. That's all I'll be trying to do in the final.

"The stadium looks awesome, the weather is warm and the track surface is hard and fast - so it's all set up to be a great competition."

British boost

Backley comes into the Worlds off the back of a wonderful throw of 90.81m at the British Grand Prix, his longest throw for nine years and his second best ever.

But was Zelezny impressed or worried?

"I chatted with Jan the other day and explained what had happened," said Backley, "but he's a man of few words and he just said, 'Yes, this is normal'.

"I asked him about his form and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, 'It is okay'.

"Jan is the sort of man who would say if he were having problems, so what he said means he's feeling good. I'm expecting to have to do something special to beat him."

There may have been truer words spoken this week. But do not count on it.