Six of the nine personal best times on Stewart McSweyn's IAAF profile were set in a breakthrough 2018 and with three more indoor benchmarks set within a week in February, the King Islander is edging ever closer to becoming his country's greatest ever middle-distance athlete.

He leaves Australian shores this week just a couple of days after his 24^th birthday targeting another frenetic globe-trotting schedule he hopes will climax at the athletics world championships in Doha at the end of September.

But having contested the 5000 and 10,000-metre double at his maiden Commonwealth Games last year, McSweyn has made a tactical switch to targeting the 1500-5000m events and has his sights set on three particular figures.

McSweyn's personal bests are currently three seconds off the 1500m record of Ryan Gregson (3:31.06) and two and 10 seconds respectively off the 3000m (7:32.19) and 5000m (12.55.76) benchmarks both set by his boyhood idol Craig Mottram.

"My season's goal is to prepare for the world championships in Doha while getting as close as I can to those three records," he said.

"If I can go better than last year it would be a good result but my big focus is on the world champs. I want to do the 5000 and 1500 in Doha and would love to make the finals then see how close I can get to the mark where people win medals."

Reflecting on his fifth and 11^th place finishes in the 5000 and 10,000m at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Melbourne-based McSweyn and the coach he has shared with Mottram, Nic Bideau, made the decision to temporarily cut the longer distance from his program.

"I have not given up on the 10k but that is very tough and dominated by the Africans so I think I'm closer to medals in the other two," he said.

"And running 25 laps in Doha in September wouldn't be nice so it makes the decision easier."

McSweyn is due to fly to Europe after contesting the Leonora road mile in Western Australia on Sunday and has a hectic program lined up.

Heading first to Lahti in Finland, he will run with fellow Aussie Matt Ramsden on Wednesday (June 5) needing another 1500m to be ranked at the distance under new IAAF guidelines.

Then he flies across the Baltic for a 3000m in Oslo on June 13 followed by another Diamond League meet at Rabat on June 16 for a 1500m alongside Gregson whose national record he will be targeting.

Another 1500m at a lower key meet in Tubingen, Germany, on June 22, will be followed by a flight across the Atlantic for a 3000m in Eugene on June 30 before more potential Diamond League commitments over 1500m in Monaco on July 12 and 5000m against four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah at London's Olympic Stadium on July 20.

If, by this stage, McSweyn has achieved the required 5000m qualifying time, he will spend the next few weeks training and preparing for a second world championship in Qatar.

While Bideau and many of his Melbourne Track Club training mates have already headed for the Northern Hemisphere summer and a base in sunny Spain, McSweyn stayed long enough to finish a teaching placement in Melbourne before adopting the lifestyle of a full-time athlete.

He will base himself in Teddington, west London, and admits he is grateful for the support and organisation of people like Bideau and athlete managers Brian Roe and Maurie Plant.

"I think they have more idea where I'm going than I do most of the time.

"The travel is probably the hardest part of what I do and I'm lucky that I've got Nic who organises most of that. It takes the stress out of it a bit not having to worry about things like booking flights and it's good to be able to just switch off.

"I like basing myself in London because it definitely feels closest to home and I feel lucky to escape our winter and head to a summer. It's about four degrees in Melbourne at the moment.

"Plus it will be pretty cool racing Mo Farah there."

Despite such an exotic itinerary ahead, the former King Island District High School student from Pegarah was just as excited to be named Tasmanian athlete of the year alongside fellow Commonwealth Games representative Danielle McConnell this week.

"It's a pretty big honour and pretty humbling to win it when you look at other athletes involved like (javelin thrower) Hamish Peacock and (sprinter) Jack Hale," he said.

"It shows what a privilege it is to win it and also the strength of Tasmanian athletics at the moment and the fact that we're starting to get recognised. For how many people we have, we are punching well above our weight."