Little more than a day remains until the commencement of the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan - the 11th edition of a meet that showcases the very best in pure athletics.

It promises an exciting time for Team Australia, the countdown for many of those athletes beginning soon after last year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Again, a world class meet is promised in our time zone with Osaka just one hour behind Australian Eastern Standard Time.

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While the opening event of the worlds is the marathon, the first Australian to compete will be Victorian powerhouse Scott Martin in the shot put qualification stages. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist will take to the field at 11am AEST.

Meanwhile on the track, heptathlete Kylie Wheeler will begin her campaign after finishing 15th in Helsinki in 2005. This time she’s hoping for a top 10 finish.

The five-time Australian champion will start her day with the 100m hurdles before contesting the high jump (12:20pm) and, in the evening session, the shot put (8:10pm) and the 200m (10:30pm).

Donna MacFarlane and Victoria Mitchell will take on the first round of the 3000m steeplechase, an event that - for the women - enters just its second World Championships after its introduction in 2005.

Mark Fountain, winner of his first Australian Championship in March, will line up in the first round of the men’s 1500m at 12:25pm in his what will be his worlds debut.

Australia’s two-pronged men’s sprint combination of Patrick Johnson and Joshua Ross will test their wares in the first round of the 100m at 1:10pm and, if all goes to plan, will return for the second round at 9:15pm.

For Johnson, it will be his fourth World Championships campaign; Ross, his second.

Also a veteran of four, an in-form Tamsyn Lewis will hit the track for the first round of the women’s 800m at 8:30pm.

Four of her last five runs have broken the two-minute barrier, a handy stat given the 2005 world champion - Cuba’s Zulia Calatayud - won in 1:58.82.

And a successful morning will see Martin return for the shot put final at 9:20pm.

To complete day one, 2004 World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson will run the 10,000m event, kicking off at 10:50pm.

It’s the first of nine days; Australia’s athletics network SBS will broadcast the finals live on each and every night from August 25 to September 2, plus the marathon and walks.

Athletics Australia’s high performance manager Max Binnington recognises that our athletes compete against a global pool of competitors in a sport that has no barriers to participation.

“Our goal as a team is to consistently be in the top 12 teams in the world and with Osaka and Beijing both in our time zone we have the opportunity to knock on the door of the top 10,” he said.

“There will be over 200 nations in Osaka and more than 40 of them are capable of producing one athlete who can win a medal. Because of the depth, few countries judge their success solely on medals, we judge success based on the number of athletes who reach the finals.

“Craig Mottram could run the race of his life, smash the Australian record and be admired by the athletic world, but still finish sixth; such is the depth of the competition.

“When you look at our potential finalists, our team is as strong as it’s been in the last 20 years.

“Jana Rawlinson, Mottram, Steve Hooker, Paul Burgess, John Steffensen and Nathan Deakes will all have their eyes on a spot in the final at a minimum.

“Then we can add the likes of Josh Ross, Youcef Abdi, Luke Adams, Scott Martin, Sarah Jamieson, Benita Johnson, Donna MacFarlane, Kym Howe, Bronwyn Thompson and our relay teams and we have a long list of athletes who will go into the championships with high expectations.”

The event returns to Japan after a 16-year absence - Tokyo the host city in 1991.