Rodway and clubmate Rachel Jones will compete at the event that will see riders from five-year-olds to elite and masters competitors race over the five-day meet.

For the likes of Willoughby and Buchanan, the championships are a final chance to nail down an Olympic berth for 2016.

The Australian squad won 17 medals - eight gold, four silver and five bronze - in Zolder, Belgium, at the corresponding event last year and will be looking to continue that level of performance against the best the world has to offer.

Rodway was one of the amazing stories of the entire 2015 world championships, the prodigious teen first recovering from a broken foot that hindered his training in the lead-up to the event.

Then, having recovered sufficiently to make it to the championships Rodway was involved in a painful crash in the warm-up that saw him carted off the track by medical staff, only to come back hours later and comfortably win gold against the world’s best in his age.

Despite that win against the odds, the year 10 student is determined to take nothing for granted as he prepares to defend his world crown.

“My preparation has been good, I am training well, been good on the bike and good in the gym,” Rodway said.

“Compared to last year, things have been a lot, lot better.”

Rodway said his W1 plate – the prize earned by the world champion – will mean nothing when he gets on the start ramp in Medellin and he will have to be even better than he was in 2015.

“It’s going to be hard no matter what happens and all the top riders will be fast, no doubt,” he said.

“It’ll come down to who has trained the hardest, who has prepared the best, but also to who puts it together on the day.

“It’ll be important for me to get my head in the right place from the first moto so I’ll talk to my coach Luke Madill and will mentally get ready and go from there.”

Jones, who has based herself out of the US in recent times, will compete in the elite women’s category alongside Buchanan and fellow Olympian Lauren Reynolds.

The UCI BMX World Championships in Medellin, Colombia start on Wednesday, May 25, and conclude with the elite men and women’s finals on Sunday, May 29.