CATHERINE HALL, St James — Despite coming off a forgettable 2013 season intermediate hurdler Kaliese Spencer says the competitive fire still burns hot and she is targeting lowering both her personal bests in the 400m and 400m hurdles this season.

The two-time IAAF Diamond trophy winner in the 400m hurdles was part of the MVP team that won the women’s 4x400m relay at the 36th Milo Western Relays at the Montego Bay Sports Complex last weekend. Spencer told the Jamaica Observer she was positive in her outlook for the 2014 season.

“I am just working on getting stronger and I have been doing that so far, I opened my season in the 400m and I will be doing a lot more 400m this season,” she said.

Lowering her personal bests she said was a realistic goal for this season after running 51.19 seconds in the 400m late last season and 52.79 seconds in the 400m hurdles in London in August 2011.

“I want a PB in the 400m and want to run faster in the 400m hurdles,” she said. “My technique is getting better, I am stronger this year and faster, so I am ready and raring to go.”

A more immediate goal, she revealed, was to make the Jamaican team to the IAAF World Indoors to be held in Sopot, Poland, next month. Also, she will be competing at the Birmingham Indoors meet in England this weekend where she will compete in the 400m.

The entry standard for the 400m is 53.15 seconds indoors or 51.20 seconds outdoors and the performances must have been done between January 1, 2013 and February 2014.

Spencer would have already achieved the qualifying standard, having run a personal best 51.19 seconds in September last year in Rieti, Italy.

Interestingly, Spencer lists that run in Italy as one of the highlights of her 2013 season.

“I finished the 2013 season with a 50.1 time and that was a first so I can’t complain,” she said. “It wasn’t a great season, but I think I am pretty much ready to move on now.”

After three fourth place finishes at the previous three global track meets, the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in 2009 and Daegu, South Korea, in 2011, and the Olympic Games in London in 2012, Spencer was disqualified from the 400m hurdles at the Moscow World Championships last year and was also a part of the women’s 4x400m relay team that was also disqualified for another team member’s infringement.

The 26-year-old is still not sure whether the Commonwealth Games in Scotland will be on her schedule this season, but says she has not given up hopes of winning a global medal.

Asked whether there was still a realistic chance that she can win an individual medal, she fired back: “Definitely, I am not giving up. I am still motivated, still wanting that medal and I believe I will still get it before I retire.”