TILLY GRAY hopes her performance at the British Swimming Championships can be a building block for the rest of the season after a difficult few months in training.

The Swindon-born star narrowly missed out on a place in the 100m butterfly final at the iconic London Aquatics Centre on Friday, clocking a time of 1:01.35 minutes in her heat.

The former Dolphin's presence at the Championships follows a self-proclaimed tricky year having not been able to train at her Bath Univeristy base due to refurbishments to the home pool, instead undertaking journeys of several hours for each session.

While she was disappointed in failing to qualify for a shot at the medals in the evening races, the 23-year-old admitted the swim could act as an important starting point. 

“I didn’t go as well as I had hoped if I’m honest, because I don’t think I ever really got going,” she said.

“My first 25m felt pretty good, but then when I turned it just felt like I didn’t have much left.

“This wasn’t really a target meet for me, we just wanted to get through it and see how everything goes.

'This week is a platform to build on, and this race was in itself a little milestone. I can’t hope to compete with the girls after the training I’ve been doing, but it definitely gives me the chance to see the competitors, and I know I am not a million miles off at all.

“The focus is on the summer coming up, and hopefully I can build up to some fast swims then.

“I’ve just got to get my head down, keep working hard and then hopefully we will have a smoother ride towards 2016."

Gray represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, for which the preparatory holding camp was held at the London Aquatics Centre.

And she explained how pleased she was to be back at the iconic venue.

“I absolutely love this pool, it is one of my favourites to race in,” she added.

“It is great to come back and the atmosphere is always very special.

“I am really enjoying the British Championships even if I didn’t necessarily get the results I wanted, and I am trying to soak it all in as well.”  

Meanwhile, Jazz Carlin, who has already claimed two gold medals at the meeting, is preparing to go in the 200m freestyle tomorrow.

To keep up to date with all the action of the swimmers in the lead up to Rio follow British Swimming on Twitter Facebook and Instagram