By Sharron Davies BBC swimming presenter and former Olympic medallist

Kirsty Balfour is Great Britain's best medal hope

I haven't heard anyone in the British team shouting from the roof tops and predicting a medal as they know the quality of competition will be immense.

Despite their brilliant showing at the Commonwealth Games, British performance director Bill Sweetenham has not made any targets as he knows his team are up against the big boys now.

The quality of the field is so high that the British team cannot afford to do anything other than their best in the heats, otherwise they just won't make finals.

Only David Davies and Kirsty Balfour will be able to swim inside themselves during the heats, the rest of the team will have to go for it from the absolute start and aim for personal best after personal best.

Balfour is probably our best hope for a medal when she goes in the breaststroke.

She had a great year last year and will again come up against Australia's Leisel Jones who is a phenomenal champion.

It's going to be very tough for her, but if my money was going on any Brit to medal it would be her.

The main thing I would like the British team to do though is cope with the pressure a major championship brings.

One of the problems that we've had at previous Olympics and World Championships is that the team have buckled under the intense pressure that surrounds a major event.

It's so important that they are mentally strong as these championships have so much extra significance with the Beijing Olympics just over a year away.

Everyone wants to go in and set their marker ahead of the Games.

Michael Phelps is aiming to win a record eight gold medals

All the big names in the world will want to throw the gauntlet down and say, 'I'm swimming well, watch out for me next year'.

One man who everyone will be watching is American superstar Michael Phelps.

He is going for a record eight gold medals which I think is a tall order.

Back in the days of the legendary Mark Spitz swimmers didn't specialise quite as much as they do nowadays.

Today you are either a great 100m swimmer or a great 200m swimmer, it's unusual to go right across the distances which makes it even tougher for Phelps's challenge.

Also he hasn't had the best year, he has changed university, got caught for drink driving, all sort of things have happened which have affected the smoothness of his preparation.

Don't get me wrong, he's a phenomenal athlete and we will have great things from him, but eight golds is maybe asking a lot.

One nation to keep your eyes on is the Chinese: they are an unknown quantity that I think will take the championships by surprise.

World Swimming Championships Sun 25 March - Sun 1 April BBCi and BBC Sport website every day from 1000-1200 Highlights every day on BBC TWO Swimming on the BBC

We don't know a lot about their athletes, but they have a big pool of athletes to call on and untold funds at their disposal because they want to set a benchmark in Beijing next year.

The championships will be very special as Australians absolutely love swimming.

The pool will be situated in the Rod Laver Arena, which is normally the home of the Australian Open tennis, to accommodate 15,000 very knowledgeable fans who will be shouting and screaming.

The swimmers themselves will love it, as the purpose-built pools they install in arenas like Rod Laver are conducive to fast performances.

The pools are basically large steel bowls that have walls that are quite bouncy, not bouncy as you or I would know, but the pros get a little bit of spring on the turnarounds which makes times a bit quicker.

No surprise that the swimmers love it so much, so watch the records fall.