JAZZ Carlin claimed Great Britain’s first gold medal of the European Short Course Swimming Championships with victory in the 800m freestyle earlier this evening.

Bradford on Avon resident Carlin clocked 8mins 11.01secs to triumph in Netanya, Israel, finishing just 0.42secs ahead of Hungarian silver medallist Boglarka Kapas. Sharon Rouwendaal, of the Netherlands, came home third.

Carlin’s time was just under three seconds outside her own British short course record, which the 25-year-old set on her way to winning world silver over the same distance in Doha last year.

Carlin qualified second fastest for the final behind Kapas after Wednesday’s heats and the two proved to be the class of the field once again.

The duo were neck and neck throughout the first half of the race before Carlin made a significant move with 200m to go.

Just 0.2secs was the most that had separated Carlin and Kapas early on but the Tigersharks swimmer had pulled almost a second clear heading into the final 50m before comfortably holding on to claim the win.

The victory means that Carlin is now the reigning European 800m champion over both long and short course, having triumphed in the former in Berlin last year.

Carlin’s success capped a superb day for the British team, following a silver medal for Roberto Pavoni in the 400m individual medley and bronze for Andrew Willis in the 200m breaststroke, taking the team’s overall tally for five medals from the opening three days.

Carlin will bid to make it a double gold on Sunday when she goes in the morning’s 400m heats before the final in the evening.