Adlington eyes Beijing world record

REBECCA ADLINGTON has her eyes firmly focussed on topping the podium at this summer's Olympic Games after a memorable season thus far.

The 19-year-old followed up her British Championships success in March, where she qualified in four events for this summer's Olympics, by landing gold in Manchester in the 800m freestyle in a new championship record time at the World Short Course Championships.

Adlington finished in a time of 8:08.25 to just miss out on breaking her first world record but did claim her first world short-course medal.

And now Adlington is planning on repeating the trick when it matters most in Beijing come August.

"When you are in the pool it's bright and you lose a sense of the rest of the field," she said. "I wasn't aware of the time in Manchester or where I was until the wall. I was ecstatic and to get the European record was amazing.

"The early part of this year has been unbelievable for me and I'm so excited about pitting my wits against the best in the world in Beijing.

"I'm already thinking about the Olympics. In a couple of weeks I'll start my training properly again and then get into the camp and start putting the hard work in."

 TOM WILKINS