SWINDON Dolphin can boast nine national swimmers amongst their pod ahead of the summer championships.

One of the changes to British Swimming’s new national competition calendar is to provide 'home nation' championships, allowing swimmers to nominate either England, Scotland or Wales as their applicable home country and the chance to qualify for their respective summer championships.

These three championships, in addition to the top-level British Summer Championships, provide more opportunities than ever before for swimmers to compete at national level.

Swindon Dolphin have nine qualifiers this year, with Hannah Brown, Fraser Durston, William Davies, Olivia Flack, Joshua Fox, Charlotte Gardo, Regan Jefferies, Lauren Matthews and James Watson all ranking high enough to make their nominated home nations championships.

As a precursor to the Scottish Home Nations Championships, Brown competed in the Scottish National Open Swimming Championships last month at Tollcross, Glasgow - the site of the 2014 Commonwealth Games - gaining a personal best in the 200m breaststroke to boost her confidence ahead of her 50m event in Edinburgh.

Durston’s nationals are already underway, having competed in the Swim Wales Open Water Championships at Bryn Bach Park, Tredegar, earlier this month. He qualified for the 3km event by virtue of a pool 1500m freestyle qualifying time and claimed silver.

The 17-year-old has a busy programme in the main block of competition, tackling eight events as he looks to add to his medal tally.

Davies will be competing in his second nationals after returning from injury earlier in the year. The 15-year-old has qualified for both the 1500m freestyle and the 3km open water but will only go into the pool event, where he is ranked eighth.

Flack will be looking to capitalise on her season’s highlight of setting new age group club records in the 100m and 200m backstroke.

Competing in the 50m and 200m backstroke, Flack will be aiming to put in some equally good performances in Sheffield.

First-time qualifier Fox swam a time en route to his regional medal in the 1500m freestyle that was good enough to just get his foot in the door on the national competition.

Gardo achieved national qualification in the 50m breaststroke last year and this year has made the grade in the 200m event at Sheffield, alongside Matthews, in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.

Watson competed in seven finals at the regional championships in May, which should hold him in good stead for six national events over six days.

The main blocks of the 'home nations' championships kicked off yesterday with the Swim Wales Summer Open Meet at the Wales National Pool, Swansea.

Meanwhile, at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh, the Scottish Summer Meet starts today and runs until Sunday.

Following the British Summer Championships starting on Tuesday, July 28, the national season concludes with the ASA National Summer Championships from August 4-9, at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.