CRICKLADE’S Laura Halford is hoping to keep her trajectory on the rise as she heads to Sofia for the rhythmic gymnastics World Cup Series.

Halford, who has just concluded her first year at Cardiff University, flies to Bulgaria today, having scored a personal best at her last World Cup event in Italy.

Now the 20-year-old is hoping to improve on that score as she cranks up her preparations to defend her British crown in late July.

“I am feeling quite confident ahead of Sofia and I am looking forward to getting out there,” she said.

“I have been focusing on just trying to improve the consistency of my routines. They have stayed the same since last year basically, so I just want to improve the consistency and improve my marks.

“In Italy, I got a personal best score, so I was really happy with that because I even made a few mistakes.

“It wasn’t a perfect performance, so to get a PB was really good and I think it is down to having more consistency in my training programme.

“I am looking to increase that again in Sofia.

“Now I have a bit of a confidence boost from Italy because I know that I can do it and that it is possible to achieve those higher scores.

“I think it is quite good this year because the competition is very strong at the World Cups, because all the Olympic competitors want to prepare for Rio.

“There are a lot of strong performances to go up against but for me I am trying to concentrate on improving my consistency for the upcoming British Championships.”

Halford has put her recent good form down to the stability living in Cardiff has brought to her training, with the Commonwealth silver medallist now living with her teammates in south Wales.

“I am in Cardiff now training full-time,” she added. “It is really hard because I am training a lot more but it is a lot easier now because there is some consistency in my training.

“I have a set plan for the week, so I know exactly what I am doing every day and it is a lot more organised and a lot more productive, and that is why I am seeing improvements in my performance.

“I have got to know my team-mates a lot more, so we can support each other and push each other on.”