ON and off the field there is plenty going on for Sophie Hitchon in 2018, and the Commonwealth Games is just the start.

Competing in Australia is the first of the big events for the Burnley-born hammer thrower this year, ending with her September wedding in San Jose at the end of the athletics season.

Some carry more significance than others. But she will go into each with the same determination and focus.

The Gold Coast competition is, on paper, easier than what she will face in the European Athletics Championships in Berlin.

But that does not mean she will take the contest any less seriously.

“No matter what I always put pressure on myself, even when we compete in California (today, at the Stanford Invitational) I still want to throw well,” said Hitchon.

“I’m not going to go into it thinking it’s going to be easy because no competition is easy and that’s how people make mistakes by thinking that.

“It doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to go into it thinking you’ve got to perform every time you compete. That’s my mentality with every competition. I treat every one the same.”

Hitchon is only 26 but has history with the Commonwealth Games.

There was an element of personal disappointment when she walked away from Glasgow four years ago with a bronze.

It was her first success at senior level championship, but she knew she was better than her 68.72m throw.

It transpired that she was harbouring an illness, which worsened for the European championships in Switzerland a month later, where she finished 10th with 62.93m - her worst throw of the year.

Since the end of last season, with the help of her coach Tore Gustafsson, she has been working on a new throwing action - changing from a toe and three heel turns to a four-heel turn technique.

Hitchon is relishing the chance to showcase it on a global stage for the first time at the multi-sport games.

“I think it will be a whole new experience. I’m excited for it,” smiled the Blackburn Harrier.

“I always love big events and being able to be in with a group of people. I love that environment.

“I’m really excited to go and see everyone again.

“Multi-sport does make it feel bigger. It’s a step towards the Olympic feeling. It’s just a little different because different people (from Team GB) are on different teams.

“I think sometimes it’s nice to have a different feel.”

Hitchon will compete in the qualification rounds on April 9, with a view to the final the following day.

But for Hitchon there is a bigger picture too.

“For every athlete this year it’s kind of an odd year. The more major competitions are the World Championships and Olympics so we take this year as a down year to build into the next one,” she explained.

“The long term aim is the World Championships in Tokyo, which aren’t until October next year, then the year after that it’s the Olympics.”

That does not mean, though, that a medal performance in Australia would not mean as much.

“I’m proud of any medal performance I get,” said the 26-year-old.

“The Commonwealth Games would mean as much to me as a European medal.”

Another incentive is improving on the bronze she earned in Glasgow 2014.

“I’d love to get another medal. I’d love to do better than last time,” she said.

“The Europeans were straight after and I was very ill.

“I seemed fine at the Commonwealths but there was something there. I wasn’t 100 per cent in Glasgow. I felt like I could have performed a little bit better.

“I want to do better but with the changes (in technique) it’s difficult to say.

“Things have been going well so I don’t see why I can’t perform well.

“But I’ve said before weird things can happen. You can get one day and feel great or you can get up one day and feel like you just can’t throw. Sometimes that happens in life.

“Ultimately it’s about execution and what you come away with is after the fact. I don’t think about it going into it.

“What you come away with you come away with.”

Kicking off the new season with the Commonwealth Games, when it comes to a close Hitchon, who got engaged at Disneyland in September after winning bronze at Rio 2016, then has her wedding to look forward to.

“It’s an easier year to do it,” she explained. “We planned it in September so I can do my season just as normal and concentrate on that.”