Miley anxious to see if extra training will pay dividends

SCOTLAND's Hannah Miley starts her customary marathon list of events by defending the 200 metres individual medley at today's opening session of the British Gas Swimming Championships at the Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield.

The 20-year-old from Inverurie displayed some wonderful form over the winter, winning the 400m individual medley at the European Short-course Championships in Istanbul before successfully defending ten titles at the Scottish Championships in Glasgow in January.

But this is the start of the important long-course season with the European Championships in Budapest in August and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October the main targets.

She takes part in seven events over the next six days. Over the winter, the slightly built Miley, who is coached by her father, Patrick, has increased her amount of training to try to move even closer to the top of her sport.

"I know I needed more muscle and have worked on my strength and conditioning," she said.

"I'm not tall, so I have to find another way to get more power if I'm to challenge the best.

"At the moment, I am mixing swimming with my sports science degree at Robert Gordon's University in Aberdeen. And the rest of my life has really been put on hold until after the 2012 Olympics in London."

Caitlin McClatchey is another Scot on the medal trail on the opening day in the 200m freestyle, while Edinburgh's Kris Gilchrist, who now trains in Paris, will be chasing breaststroke gold in the 100m tomorrow and the 200m on Saturday.

Warrender's Lewis Smith, who competed in last year's world championships, will be among the favourites for the 400m individual medley, while Stirling's Andy Hunter, City of Glasgow's Robbie Renwick and Commonwealth champion David Carry will be out to prove they are worthy of GB selection in the freestyle.

After a slightly difficult 2009, Rebecca Adlington, the Olympic double gold medallist, will be out to prove she is back to her best in the distance freestyle, and it will also be an important championship for her British rival, Jo Jackson.

Jackson surprisingly overshadowed Adlington by taking a silver medal in the 400m freestyle at last year's World Championships in Rome.

But since then, she has missed weeks of training due to asthma that was made worse by bouts of influenza. As a result, the Loughborough swimmer has little expectation over the next six days.

"I've never been through anything like this and it's been quite scary," said Jackson.

"I've had asthma before but it's never been as severe and I've never experienced the panic that comes with not knowing how to handle it.

"I'm desperate to train well and get back to my best but it's hard given my health.

"I have no expectation of myself this year. I'm training the best I can but realistically I have a long way to go to be near my best.

"I am aiming for the Commonwealth Games in October and will be targeting qualification events later in the year."

For the English and Welsh swimmers, this week's championships are the main Commonwealth Games selection event. But the Scottish team for Delhi will rest on results from the Scottish Championships in Glasgow in June.