JAZZ CARLIN admits her confidence has been sapped during a disastrous World Championships but insists rest and recuperation will see her back to her best next summer.

After claiming silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games Carlin looked set to continue her medal rush when she captured three silver medals at the British Gas Championships in March.

The 20-year-old has since revealed her dreams were dashed as long ago as April when she went down with glandular fever – decimating her preparations for Shanghai .

Unable to battle back to full fitness in time Carlin crashed out of the 400m freestyle ahead of the final on the opening day and exited in the 800m heats on Friday.

Yet while the illness dented both Carlin’s fitness and her confidence, the Welsh swimmer is hopeful an overdue will holiday will put her firmly back on track.

“It has taken a little bit out of my confidence struggling in the 400m but I wanted to come back and do my very best to get back to where I can be but it just wasn’t enough,” said Carlin.

“I tried so hard to get back to where I was and I just wanted to come out here fighting.

“It is always an honour to represent my country and so I wanted to come out here and give it the best I could.

“That was all I had so I just need to go away and build on that for next year.

“I’ll have a few weeks off in August and go away on holiday and take some time to relax.

“With the glandular fever I never really had any time off to allow my body to relax so it was nice just to come out here and then have a rest and get back into hard training for next year.”

Carlin upstaged double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington to claim 400m silver in Delhi but the tables were turned in China as Adlington stormed into Saturday’s final as the fastest qualifier in 8.22.27secs.

Carlin could only manage 8.34.33secs to finish 16th and accepted her illness had left her a shadow of her former self.

“It just made me a lot more tired and it made it a real struggle to recover. I came out here and I gave it the best I could and I have tried really hard to get back,” added Carlin.

“It has obviously shown that maybe I wasn’t ready to race but I just came out and gave it the best I could.

“I’m confident that given a bit of a rest and a bit of time off my body will be back fighting and hopefully next year I will be back to my best and fighting again.”

l British Gas is supporting the British Gas GBR Swimming Team to win more gold medals, as part of its partnership with the sport at all levels. For more information visit www.bristishgas.co.uk/swimming