With more competitors, better facilities and a tropical location, the 2006 senior world weightlifting championships will be a much different experience than 2005.

This year, the best lifters in the world, including Yukoners Jeane Lassen and Emily Quarton, will descend on Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, thousands of miles away from last year's site of Doha, Qatar.

After a fifth place finish in Qatar, and gold at the Commonwealth Games last March, Lassen is aiming once again for the top 10, although she's not quite sure what to expect.

'I don't know what will happen because this year there are a lot more participants, since it counts as an (2008) Olympic qualifier. Last year was a post-Olympic year, so some people were taking a break after the Olympics.

'I would like to stay in the top 10 and if I can be fourth that would be great. You never know what will happen with the other athletes in front of me.'

After spending the summer training in a basement at her new club in Montreal, where there was no air conditioning, Lassen feels confident the heat in the Dominican won't be too big of an issue.

'And I think the laid back culture (of the Dominican) isn't that much different from the Yukon,' she laughed.

As for the facilities, Lassen expects they will be much better than they were last year. In Doha, there were problems with the platforms, as well as limited to no space for the lifters in the warmup area.

'We know the equipment that will be used and it's quite good,' she stated. 'And I assume there's going to be enough room for us to lift in warmup without bumping into anyone else.'

Canada is trying to qualify two women for the Olympics at this event. Next year's Worlds are also a qualifier and if they are still not successful after that, they'll have to try to qualify one woman at the Pan American Championships in 2008.

'It's backwards, because we'll only be assured one after we don't get two,' she explained. 'So we try as a team for two and if that doesn't work, we go to the continental championship and try to get one.

'We really won't know until May or June of 2008 how many will go.'

Or, for that matter, who.

But if Lassen has her way, she'll be in the mix. Right now, she is the top ranked female lifter in Canada, so if she can stay injury free for the next two years which isn't easy at this level of competition the Olympic spot should be her's to lose.

What are the chances that if Canada gets two spots at the Olympics, they will both go to Yukoners? Lassen said that depends on Quarton's performances over the next couple of years, but if right now is any indication, it's possible.

This will be Quarton's first senior world championship, although she has competed at two junior world events, as well as won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

'Her training is going amazing,' said Lassen. 'She's definitely in the best shape of her life. She's in a very competitive weight class, 58 (kilograms). I think there are 35 or so athletes in her weight class.

'I really am confident she'll do well. I think she'll lift way above her best.'

Lassen, who competes in the 69-kg class, has been pretty impressive in training as well. She's lifting 108 kg in the snatch and 137 kg in the clean and jerk, well above the 100 and 126 totals she recorded at the 2005 Worlds.

Hopefully, I can repeat that in competition.'

It might help having both her parents at her side in Santo Domingo, cheering her on.

Her dad is making the trip as a loader the person who loads the expected weights onto the bar on the platform, and checks to make sure the bar is secure.

Her mom, Moira, who is also the Secretary General of the Canadian Weightlifting Federation, is traveling to the championships as an official. In fact, along with a colleague from Japan, Moira will be the first female technical controller at a senior world championship.

Also while in the Dominican, in her role as president of the 2008 Junior World Weightlifting Championships Host Society, Moira will present an organizational update report to the 2006 International Weightlifting Federation Congress.

'I'm not nervous having them watch me at all,' insisted Jeane, when asked about her parents. 'It's definitely cool to have my family there supporting me, not just for the time I'm lifting on the platform, but also all of the time before.

'You want to be able to talk to the people that know you. When you're with your family, they kind of remind you that yeah, you can do it.'

Jeane is also excited to have Quarton as a roommate on the road this year, something she hasn't had the luxury of in the past.

'It's good for me, because she's got a better hair straightener than me, so I can take advantage of her stuff,' she joked.

Both Jeane and Quarton will be staying for a few extra days after the competition, to take advantage of the sunshine and white sand beaches. They'll return to Montreal on October 11.