Four years after being the youngest swimmer on the Great Britain team in Beijing, butterfly specialist Ellen Gandy enters the forthcoming Olympic trials with a Games medal the only one missing from her collection.
The European Championships in Budapest in 2010 brought the Bromley-born swimmer her first individual international medal, a silver in the 200 metres butterfly.
That was swiftly followed by silver and bronze in 100m and 200m respectively at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
The upward trajectory continued last year at the World Championships in Shanghai where fifth in the 100m was followed by second over four lengths, the Melbourne-based swimmer becoming the first British woman to secure a global butterfly medal.
It is something the 20-year-old has not yet fully absorbed and she told Press Association Sport: "I have dreamt for so long about medalling at the World Championships and to do it the year before an Olympic Games is such a massive thing.
"But it doesn't really feel like anything to me at the moment because I'm so focused on the Olympic trials, but I'm sure when I have time at the end of the year to get away from the pool and reflect a bit on everything it will sink in more."
Both butterfly races will be among the most hotly-contested of next week's British Gas Swimming Championships at the Aquatics Centre.
Two slots are available but Gandy will face fellow Shanghai double finalist Jemma Lowe in both races as well as Fran Halsall in the 100m and Jess Dickons in the 200m - all four products of the Smart Track programme - so somebody will miss out.
Gandy, who lost to Dickons earlier this year at the Victoria State Championships, is relieved the trials have finally arrived.
"I am really glad they have finally come around," she said. "It feels like the last six months have gone so quickly but I feel like I've been doing the best training I possibly could and I feel ready. I'm in exactly the position I wanted to be in before trials and I feel happy in myself and my ability."
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