Konstadinos Filippidis will look to win his first major outdoor gold medal at the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships held from 6-10 July.
The Greek pole vaulter has confirmed the event will be part of his plans in a year where he will then go on to seek more glory at the Olympic Games in Rio a month later.
But if he is to be crowned champion in the Netherlands, he could have the daunting prospect of ending the reign of Renaud Lavillenie who has won this title on the last three occasions, in Barcelona, Helsinki and Zurich.
In those championships, Filippidis, 29, was 21st in qualifying in Spain before finishing fifth in Finland and seventh in Switzerland.
It was in 2014 where he really made his mark on the global stage by winning gold at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot.
Last summer he reached a new high in every sense of the word as he broke the Greek outdoor record with a brilliant 5.91m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris. It was the third best by a European in 2015, with Lavillenie (6.05m) and Germany’s Raphael Holzdeppe (5.94m) the top two.
Filippidis has shown a fine level of consistency in reaching the major finals in a career where he won silver at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Kaunas 2005. His first appearance at the European Athletics Championships was in 2006 when he was 26th in qualifying in Gothenburg.
He will open his season on 10 May at the Athens Pole Vault meet and then compete in the Diamond League in Shanghai, Eugene, Oslo and Stockholm on his journey towards Amsterdam.