HANNAH Macleod might have claimed three international medals last year but the Huntingdon hockey star insists she is only just getting started.

HANNAH Macleod might have claimed three international medals last year but the Huntingdon hockey star insists she is only just getting started.

The former Hinchingbrooke School pupil claimed her first medal in an England shirt with bronze at July’s Champions Trophy and then followed it up with World Cup and Commonwealth bronze.

And while the three visits to the podium marked the most successful calendar year for England’s female hockey players, Macleod admits she is hungry for more and is looking to turn bronze into gold in 2011.

“We want to get straight back to where we finished off last season, and make sure we can achieve more, than we did last season,” she said.

“The main thing, with England, is that we are hoping that we can take another step forward and we feel that we know where we need to improve to do that.

“It’s just breaking down teams which defend very deep in tight areas which we’ve been struggling with, and we find that’s happening more now at international level the more improve.

“We need to carry on our performances into high pressure matches – we want to be getting to a gold medal match this year because we now know what it takes to get to a final.

“We’ve been on the losing end of them too many times but we’ve got the belief now and everybody is really excited that we can win a gold medal this year.”

It promises to be another busy year for Macleod and co with the Champions Trophy taking place in Amsterdam in June before the European Championships in Germany kick off in August.

But with March 15 signalling the 500 days to go mark until London 2012 gets going, the former St Ives Hockey Club forward can’t help but let her mind wander towards the capital.

“It’s strange for our sport, that the majority of time we’re playing and training with England, Wales and Scotland but everything is being geared towards London 2012 with Great Britain,” Macleod added.

“I think the attention we received after the Champions Trophy and World Cup from people back home was superb, it’s the first-time we’ve really received media attention of that amount.

“It’s going to be amazing playing in London. It’s coming around so fast, and we can’t wait to get going but we’ve got a lot of work to do before then.”

> Join fellow Europeans at the London 2012 ‘one year to go’ celebrations at St Pancras International courtesy of Eurostar. View competition details at www.eurostar.com/london2012. Eurostar is the Official International Rail Services Provider to the Games, and also the British, French and Belgian Olympic teams