When Katura Horton-Perinchief competes in next week?s Diving World Cup she will not be bothered if she doesn?t reach the finals.

There?s a bigger prize on her horizon and for that she only needs to finish in the top 34 of either the 10-metre platform or the three-metre springboard events.

If she achieves this goal then Bermuda will have another Olympics-bound athlete.

?I?m not really looking to make the cuts. I?m just trying to make the top 34 which determines if you go the Olympics.

?I?m just trying to get one of those places,? she declared, signalling her focus for the meet which takes place from February 18-22 in Athens, Greece, the same city hosting the Summer Games in August.

Having finished 38th at last year?s World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Horton-Perinchief is confident about her chances in this outing.

?I think they are pretty good. I was 38th at Worlds and I wasn?t nearly as prepared for that as I will be for this one.

?I have some bigger dives. On the three-metre, I used to have a 2.4 degree-of-difficulty twister and now it?s a twister up with the big guns, so it?s a 2.8 twister and that?s going to make a big difference.

?On the platform I have much higher degree of difficulty as well so it should be a pretty good competition.

?I?m a little nervous because I know it?s my only chance (to qualify). Being in school I can?t go to all the qualifiers.

?I don?t think qualifying will be a big problem once I can stay composed. It?s probably going to be more of a mental game than a physical one,? she noted.

Asked if she had tried the more elaborate twister in competition before, she replied: ?Not in international competition. I have (tried it) here at college level and it?s been going really well.?

Speaking to from the University of Texas at Austin where she is studying French and Pre Med, she explained that divers would have to perform more as they progress through the World Cup rounds.

?On the platform, I think it?s five (dives) and then the top 12 advance to the final and do four more dives.?

In the springboard preliminaries, each competitor starts with five dives before the field is cut to the top 18. They do five more dives after which the field is further reduced to 12 who perform another five dives in the final.

The cream of the world?s diving crop is expected to be in the Athens so the 20-year-old surmises the number will be around the same as at Worlds which was in the 50 to 55 range in either event.

Horton-Perinchief, who will be accompanied to the World Cup by her Bermuda-based coach, Terry Faulkenberry, and her mum, Ellen Kate Horton, leaves the USA for Greece on Sunday, giving herself a few days to settle in before taking to the pool next Thursday morning in her platform preliminaries.

?I?ll be getting used to the pool and the boards. Every pool is different. We look for things in the dive so that you don?t get lost in the dive and you know when to come out of it. So that spotting is different, lighting is different and the pool is different,? she explained.

While determined to give her best, she will not be perturbed if she doesn?t make the mark this time.

?I?m not worried at all. I know I have a lot of support back home and I?ll still be supported even if I don?t make the Olympics. There?s always 2008. I?m only 20. Divers are not like gymnasts, we don?t quit at 18. There are divers out there who are in their 30s so it?s not a big deal,? she said.

?I?d love to go now I?m young and get my first Olympic experience while I?m new but I don?t feel pressured at all.?