Olympic medallist Jazz Carlin has been clocking up the air miles as she prepares for another medal assault in the Gold Coast next month.
Long training stints in Australia and the Spanish mountains over winter, preceded a competition in Paris last weekend, with Carlin due to fly back Down Under on Friday – this time, with Team Wales for the Commonwealth Games.
And Carlin, who became the first Welsh female swimmer to win a Commonwealth title since Pat Beavan at the 1974 Commonwealth Games when she won gold in the 800m freestyle in Glasgow, is relishing the opportunity.
“Weirdly, I’ve done a full circle because I started off when I was 15 in Melbourne,” says the 27-year-old, referring to her maiden Games in 2006. “To come back to Australia 12 years later is a bit surreal.
“It’s obviously going to be different outdoors – we’re not used to that in the UK – but it’s going to be a good competition.
“It’s known as the ‘friendly’ Games, so it’s always a really nice atmosphere around. I’m looking forward to getting out there with the team and hopefully putting on some good races.
“There’s a lot of younger swimmers coming through. With the Welsh team, I think it’s one of the strongest teams we’ve ever had.
“I always want to be at my best and always aiming to be on the podium, so I think I just want to make sure that I can perform my best in Australia, but training’s been going really well.”
Aside from the installation of chicken restaurant Nando’s in the athletes’ village, where Carlin says she is planning to eat every meal, another home comfort on the Gold Coast will be her beloved Manchester United.
“I always try and keep up to date with United when I’m away at competitions. I watched the Liverpool game in Paris,” she added. “And so, I will be keeping up to date with the latest results and try and watch them when I can.
“Growing up, my mum and dad both supported them, so I didn’t really have much choice!”
Clearly, sport has been omnipresent through Jazz’s life and influenced her decision to participate in Yakult’s #SwimWithJazz project, where she had four weeks to get four people who had never learnt to swim previously in the pool.
“When the project came up I jumped and said I’d love to be able to help more people learn to swim,” said Carlin. “At first I was nervous, because that’s a big challenge for someone with that fear of water.
“It’s normal to be nervous. I didn’t used to be confident in the gym and used to avoid it, whereas now I do feel a lot more confident. It must be like that with swimming – you don’t feel confident enough to go in the pool.
“But it’s been the most incredible journey and I’m so proud of them.
“Four weeks ago they were holding onto the side not wanting to let go and now, they’re floating and swimming a length. It’s so inspiring seeing them take on their fears.”
From swimming one length to swimming 200, Jazz is looking ahead to a new challenge: the 10km marathon swim.
Carlin won double silver at the Rio Olympics two years ago in the 400m and 800m, but now plans to compete in the marathon 1,500m and 10,000m events at Tokyo 2020, a huge shift.
“I feel like a bit of an amateur,” she explains. “I’m getting to know something that’s alien to me, whereas in the pool I know everything like the back of my hand.
“I’m used to going up and down in my own lane, but with open water you get people around you grabbing your feet and you get whacked around the head.
“It’s a bit difficult really – I don’t even know what I think about for that long!
“I’ve got to do as many races as possible to get to know it so I’m ready to experience it all, whether it’s the lake or the ocean. It’s a bit annoying having to wait until May to race again but it’s been going well so far and I’m looking forward to a new challenge.
“It is tough when you have a disappointment to pick yourself back up, but that’s sport really – you get the highs, the lows, but the highs always make it worth it.” Sportsbeat 2018