SWINDON’S Jazz Carlin has been handed the motivation she needs for the Rio Olympics as she claimed silver in the 400m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships tonight.
The 25-year-old had already picked up a silver medal in the 800m freestyle last Thursday when she was pipped to the gold medal by Boglarka Kapas.
It was the Hungarian who had the better of the Tigersharks swimmer again at London Aquatics Centre as Carlin finished 1.38 seconds off the winning time of 4 minutes 3.47 seconds.
“It was a mixed field and I was trying hard to see the other people on the other side of the pool,” she said.
“A lot of these girls were in the Worlds final last year and it is just about pushing on and to come away with another solid time at the end of the week (is pleasing).
"It has been a tough week of training and racing but to come away with two silver medals puts me in a great position going into Rio.
“It is that extra bit of motivation to get the gold.”
In the final, Carlin was down in fifth place after the first 100m, with Kapas setting the early pace, but the Swindon swimmer took hold of second place at the third turn.
However, Kapas had stretched her advantage to more than a second by the 250m stage and while Carlin was able to close the gap in the last 50m it was not enough as she clocked a time of 4:04.85.
That gave her a second silver medal of the championships and she admitted after that she has been suffering with a rib injury but it won’t stop her aiming for gold at Rio.
“I suffered with a rib injury a few months ago,” she added.
“I think it did affect my 800 towards the start of the year and having that solid block of training.
“Obviously I am not one to come up with excuses but that is the reason why my 800 might not have been so great.
“It is just about coming in and working on my racing. My 800 was faster than it was in the trials and my 400 was about the same sort of time and it is great swimming in a world-class field.
“I am a bit of a sore loser. I do want the gold but it has been a great week of racing and if that has given me the extra motivation going into Rio then I will take silver for now and better performances in Rio.”
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