With no major title on the line this year, reigning U.S. 400m hurdles champion Lashinda Demus has a very clear goal in mind: breaking Kim Batten's U.S. record of 52.61 set more than a decade ago.

"My training has been going well, and I feel like this is attainable with the right competition and good competitors," said the 23-year-old, who last year raced to a silver medal at the World Championships. "I set my goals taking one step at a time. Achieving my goal of the American record would be a time faster than I have ever run, and running faster than my personal best is what I really want to do."

Last year, Demus, until last fall the world junior record holder in the event, twice lowered her personal best: first to 53.35 to win the national title, then again in the Helsinki final to 53.27, where she finished behind winner Yuliya Pechonkina's 52.90 performance. In a standout season, she won 10 of 13 finals, including Golden League wins in Paris, Rome and Brussels, and the season-capping World Athletics Final where she avenged her loss to Pechonkina, the world record holder. Currently, Demus is ranked No. 1 in the IAAF World Rankings.

Demus said she has a full slate of competitions on her agenda through the spring, beginning with a flat 400m outing at the Mt. SAC Relays next weekend. After a 4x400m relay appearance at the Penn Relays at the end of April, she said, "I will look forward to starting my 400 hurdles competitions on May 13 in Santo Domingo, then May 18 in Puerto Rico."

She'll make her first start on the European circuit at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 30, where she'll be headlining the event, before returning to the U.S. to prepare for her national title defense and a spot on the World Cup team.

In Ostrava, she'll be gunning for the meet record of 53.87, set by Romanian Ionela Tirlea in 2003, a mark well within her reach. Last year, she ran faster eight times.

"This competition will give me an opportunity to get one step closer to running under 53 seconds."

Besides Pechonkina, who lowered the world record to 52.34 at the 2003 Russian national championships, and Batten, still the second fastest ever, only eight other women have dipped under the event's still- formidable 53 second barrier.