JAZZ Carlin booked her place in today’s women’s 800m freestyle final at the British Gas Swimming Championships with a time of 8.30.06 minutes, and she claims the field is wide open following the retirement of Rebecca Adlington.

The Swansea ITC swimmer, who will also compete in the 200m freestyle today, will race from lane four and will be looking to book her place at the World Championships in Barcelona in July now that double Olympic champion Adlington is no longer in her way.

“It is a great race and with Becky retiring it is a wide open event and it is great to see the younger girls swimming fast,” said Carlin, who will be looking to secure an ‘A’ standard qualifying time of 8:29.55.

“It was my first swim and it was really about getting into the mix. You are always most anxious about the first swim but I was really pleased because that was the fastest I have ever swam in the morning.

“I am really excited for the final and I was not far off the qualifying time in the heats so hopefully I can make that in the final.

“It was all about getting into the rhythm, finding the pace and getting used to racing again. Obviously it is a big meet and you want to qualify for worlds so getting back in the swing of things is important.

“I am really happy with how things have gone so far this season and it is probably the best block of training I think I have ever had so I am looking for positives and this week is going to be tough.

“I have the 1500m, 400m and maybe the 200m so there are a lot of events in five days but it's all about getting stuck in and qualifying for the worlds.”

Meanwhile, Grant Turner insisted he was happy to fly under the radar in the record-breaking 50m freestyle final at the British Gas Swimming Championships – claiming he’ll be the name on everyone’s lips come Saturday.

Former Swindon Tigershark Turner had few expectations over the shortest sprint and was an also-ran as Adam Brown smashed Mark Foster’s 2008 British record in booking his place at the World Championships in Barcelona.

Turner hopes his moment in the spotlight will come this weekend when he bids to follow Brown onto the plane to Spain over his preferred distance – the 100m.

The 24-year-old needs to finish in the top two and meet the qualifying time of 48.77seconds if he is give himself a shot at reaching the worlds but after finishing fourth over half the distance he’s confident of doing just that.

“I was pleased with the race coming here with the 100m being my main focus,” he said.

“The 50m was just to get into the meet and that was on my best time without really doing too much work for it this season.

“There were some fantastic swims by Adam Brown and Ben Proud and it is great to see some guys taking that 50m on as it has been a good few years since Mark Foster retired and it is good to see them taking over.

“I wanted to come in and stamp a good time and I am pleased I have done that so I am looking forward to the 100m.

“The 100m is on Saturday and I am looking to make the team in that and the qualifying time is 58.5 and I would like to think I can get pretty close to that and take it from there.”

Finally, London 2012 Olympian Hannah Miley warmed up in the first of her five events at the British Gas Swimming Championships with the fourth fastest time in the women's 200m butterfly heats.

  • THIS year British Gas is launching SwimBritain, a programme to create a healthier nation and get 500,000 people swimming more regularly by 2015. Visit www.swimbritain.co.uk/challenge.