DOUBLE Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin is taking on a mentoring role as she heads out to the United States this week for training and competition.

Swindon's Carlin, who lives in Bradford on Avon and is coached by Dave McNulty at the British Swimming National Centre Bath, is working with a group of 17 promising female swimmers – all aged between 16 and 18 – as part of the new Performance Foundations Pilot Programme.

The programme is a partnership between British Swimming, UK Sport and the home nations of England, Scotland and Wales, with the aim of improving and increasing the transition rate from potential to podium.

The group are competing at the US Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis until Saturday alongside a combined British squad of Podium and Podium Potential athletes, which includes Rio 2016 400m and 800m freestyle silver medallist Carlin.

The Wiltshire competitor has already spent time with the group at their first training camp and told British Swimming: “It’s been a really great experience so far.

“I was once in the position of not knowing what my true potential was and being supported by someone who has been through that development process is really vital.”

For Carlin, the preparation for this year’s World Championships in Budapest in July, as well as the long-term aim of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is picking up following a fallow few months after her Rio successes.

“It’s been a bit weird for me since Rio, I had a bit of a comedown because I was focusing on the Olympics for so long,” said Carlin, who recently competed as a guest at the BUCS Nationals (British Universities & Colleges Sport) in Sheffield.

“So to have that taken away and know that Tokyo is more than three years away, it feels a bit strange.

“I’ve always loved my sport, I’ve always loved racing but you forget sometimes how hard training is.

“The early mornings when you have to get up in the dark and cold, and you have to push yourself even when no one is watching, it made it quite hard for me to drag myself out of bed at the start and you do think why you’re still doing this.

“But I’m still so driven and motivated going towards Tokyo, and even though that seems quite far away now, I know the next few years are going to fly by.”

She added: “I’m going to do all I can to make sure I’m still competing against the very best in the world, that I’m still competitive in my event, and hopefully I can still get on that podium.

“I’m going to be pushing myself in training in the lead up to the Worlds, working as hard as ever to be the best that I can be.

“In my events, everyone is always challenging for those podium positions, and you know you have to be on your A-game.

“Luckily in Rio, I managed to come away with two silver medals after a lot of hard work.

“I’ll definitely be heading to Worlds trying to come away on the podium again, and looking ahead to the next four years.”