JAZZ Carlin will be looking to use the European Championships as a marker for where she is at ahead of the Olympic Games.

Having earned her selection to the Great Britain team at the British Championships, Swindon swimmer Carlin, who now lives in Bradford on Avon, is now hoping to get a good sign of just where she is at with Rio just three months away.

The stress of competing for a place at Rio took its toll in Glasgow and affected Carlin’s times but the 25-year-old is hoping with that weight lifted she will be able get a clearer reflection of her form and will aim to set her stall out with a podium finish.

“It is only a couple of months out from Rio and most people are going to want to be putting on some good racing,” she said.

“When you are racing the best in Europe, it is a real world-class field and these are the people you are going to be coming up against at the Olympics.

“A lot of us are going to be in tough training but it is going to be about racing when you are a little bit tired, you are not feeling as fresh but trying to step up to the plate and race against your rivals.

“You don’t want to be behind. You don’t want to be not performing well so you want to be racing well even though you are going to be a bit tired and a bit sore from training.

“It is tough because we have had the emotions and the stress of the British Championships and we have just got over that and now we are just training really hard and back into the hard work.

“For a lot of people the Europeans is just the competition to see where we are at before the Olympics but it is going to be a really exciting competition and everybody wants to be at their best and everybody wants to be on the podium.”

The European Aquatics Championships started last week at London’s Aquatic Centre, the venue of the London Olympic Games, with the swimming stage starting today.

Carlin missed out on the Olympics through illness but bounced back two years later to claim gold medals in both the 400m and 800m freestyle to add to the bronze she claimed in the 4x200m freestyle two years earlier in Budapest.

“With the Europeans being in London, it will be amazing to have that home support,” added Carlin, who goes in the heats of the 800m on Wednesday.

“I definitely think that it is going to be a great competition.

“I have fond memories from the Europeans two years ago and I want to be performing well in front of my family and friends that have all come to watch.”