Older and wiser after her experience at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Bermuda long jumper Arantxa King is looking forward to a good performance at the Glasgow Games.

Aged just 16 at the time, King failed to reach the final in Australia with a best leap of 5.98 metres, well short of her personal best at the time of 6.39.

But after missing out on the previous Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, four years ago because of education commitments, the Stanford University graduate is raring to go and anxious to make her mark at a major Games.

“Preparations have been going well,” said King, who is now a full-time professional based in Kentucky.

“It’s been an interesting year so far, difficult in some ways but always a learning curve.

“Throughout the year the Commonwealth Games have been the main goal. Even when I‘ve been frustrated and wanted to compete more my coach has been like ‘the only thing that matters is July’.

“That’s kind of what we’ve had our main focus on and it’s really exciting to know it’s almost here and hopefully all the hard work will pay off and I’m able to do something special.”

King, 24, has had four meets this season, including one last week, but the training has put her in good stead for what she knows — based on previous Commonwealth Games experience — will be a very competitive event.

“I work with the track team at the University of Kentucky but also doing my own workouts which is about four hours a day, so it has been a busy year for me,” said King, who competed at the London Olympics in 2012.

“I would definitely like to compete more but it is something I have to get used to not doing. It’s a lot harder on the professional level to schedule meets. I did a meet last week and it didn’t go so well, probably one of my not-so-good meets in a long time.

“I was going to do a meet before the Commonwealth Games in England this weekend but after that performance I decided I wanted to come back home and train to make sure that won’t be happening in Glasgow.”

King has a personal best of 6.57 but knows that even another personal best may not necessarily be good enough for a podium finish.

“My first goal is to make it to the final, obviously, that’s something I don’t take for granted of course but it is always the first hurdle, King said.

“I would hope that if everything goes how it is supposed to that the final will be easy to make.

“The next step will definitely be to medal, but in women’s long jump it is very competitive, where we’ve got quite a few girls who are top in the world. I know I can be up there with those girls, it’s just going to have to be a meet where everything comes together. I haven’t had that in a while.”

King leaves for Glasgow next Friday where she will meet up with the rest of the Bermuda team, which includes another long jumper, Tyrone Smith, who is also training and competing overseas full-time.

“Having a bigger support teams helps us all do better and when you have people behind you in the stands it helps with your performances,” King said.

Bermuda has not won a medal at the Commonwealth Games since Clarence “Nicky” Saunders, had a record leap to take gold in the high jump in Auckland in 1990. But King is optimistic about Bermuda’s medal chances.

“We’re going to get it, I think that will change this year,” King said. “I’m not saying who, though.”

King is hoping to spend a week back on the Island in August, before starting her the preparations for another major event, the CAC Games in Veracruz, Mexico, in November.