Steve Cram column

By Steve Cram BBC Sport commentator

Another busy season looms with the World Indoor Championships, the Commonwealth Games and European Championships all squeezed into a single year.

With such an action-packed season to savour, here are my four athletes to follow in 2006.

TIM BENJAMIN

Will Benjamin hit gold in Gothenburg?

Tim has a great chance of winning 400m gold at the European Championships in Gothenburg.

The Welshman exorcised a lot of demons last summer.

He backed up a great win at the London Grand Prix - where he beat Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner - by finishing fifth in the World Championship final.

Those results will have given him bags of confidence and the knowledge he can mix it with the best in the world.

Now he has to start plotting his future and looking ahead to the next World Championships and the 2008 Olympics.

Winning the European title should be one of his main objectives. It is important for every athlete to win a major title and I think Tim can do that this year.

He is struggling with ongoing calf and knee problems, which means he is a big doubt for the Commonwealth Games.

But, if I were him, I wouldn't be too disappointed if he decided not to take his place in the Wales squad.

If he's not 100%, he would be wise to protect his injury and focus on the Europeans, where he has a brilliant chance of walking away with gold.

EMILY PIDGEON

Pidgeon will want to shake off her rising star tag this season

Everyone is talking about Emily Pidgeon - and she has her chance to shine at the World Junior Championships in Beijing.

She is only 16 but it seems as though she has been around for a long time.

I think the England selectors missed a chance by not taking her to the Commonwealth Games - at her age it is worth giving her the experience.

England miss golden chance - Cram

She finished 20th at last year's World Junior Cross Country Championships and followed that up by winning the European Junior 5,000m title and taking silver in the European Junior Cross Country Championships.

If that wasn't enough, she broke the British record for 2,000m steeplechase after turning her hand to that event, too.

Emily now has to start looking ahead to the 2008 Olympics.

In my view, she should stick with the steeplechase. It is a developing event, so there is no better time to attack it.

If she sticks to the flat, she will always have to contend with the Africans, although she has shown she has the ability to stay with them in the past.

It is a big year for Emily whatever she decides to do.

Being a promising youngster is one thing but to deliver when there is some expectation will determine whether she has got what it takes to be a big success.

ALEX AND ASHLEIGH NELSON

Nelson was unlucky to miss out on a Commonwealth place

It will be interesting to see how this talented brother and sister develop in 2006.

Alex, 17, took World Youth Championship silver and European Junior Championships bronze in the 100m last season.

He also clocked 20.69 seconds to break the UK Under-20 200m record, a feat which ranked him as the fourth fastest Briton in 2005.

Ashleigh came to everyone's attention when she broke Katharine Merry's UK Under-15 100m record.

Her new mark of 11.58 seconds was set on her way to winning the junior title at the English Schools' Championships, ranking her as the eighth fastest British female of 2005.

After such a successful year, I'm keen to see how both Alex and Ashleigh will fare in 2006.

They have the opportunity to make a real impact, especially Ashleigh. The standard of British women's sprinting is so poor that we desperately need someone like her to make her mark.