SWINDON’S Jazz Carlin has made the perfect start to the Mare Nostrum Series with two gold medals in Canet over the weekend.

Carlin competed in the 1,500m freestyle on Saturday and carved out a strong lead throughout the race to continue her fine recent form in the pool, having secured three gold medals at the British Championships in April as she booked her place at the FINA World Championships.

She won the final with a time of 16:09.69 ahead of Maria Vilas Vidal, of Spain, and fellow Brit Jessica Thielmann who took bronze.

Carlin’s time, in an event that is not one of her specialist lengths, pushed her to eighth in the world rankings.

After winning in southern France Carlin took to Twitter to post a picture of her holding her trophy and wrote: “Wow I forgot how much 1,500m hurts but a solid start here in Canet.”

The Tigersharks swimmer was back in action on Sunday as she competed in the more familiar 400m freestyle alongside Thielmann.

Carlin defeated the 2013 world silver medallist Melani Costa, of Spain, by clocking a time of 4:05.43 that came up a bit short of her second-ranked season best of 4:03.51 from the British Championships in April that secured her world championships place.

Meanwhile Swindon-born Hannah Miley also tasted success as she won her first gold of the series on the second day in the 400m individual medley.

Miley was joined on the podium by fellow Brit Aimee Willmott who won bronze.

The British squad will now head to Barcelona for the second leg of the series which will take place on Wednesday, June 10, and Thursday, June 11.

The series is all part of the squad’s preparations for the World Championships in Kazan later this summer and British Swimming head coach Bill Furniss is happy with the progress.

“It’s been good to see athletes training with the coaches they will be working with at the World Championships this summer,” he said.

“Those relationships are vital and to be able to develop these before the major event of the year is important.

“There have been a number of key sessions delivered across the camp aimed at preparation for the World Championships but also looking further ahead towards the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“The timing is excellent in terms of preparation for the World Championships and therefore our swimmers will face a tough test on the back of a hard week of work against some of the highest profile swimmers in the world.”