Burnell eager to test himself in US Nationals

Coming off the back of a win in his opening race of the season – the FINA World Cup event in Abu Dhabi – Burnell is eager to race those that were missing in the Middle East.

The race will also act as a qualifier for British Swimming's World Championship team later in the summer, and Burnell – who was controversially disqualified from the 10km swim at Rio 2016 – is eager to show what he's made of.

"It's 10km and it'll be a good race for me because in Abu Dhabi everyone from the Olympics was there apart from the Americans," he told British Swimming.

"To swim against Jordan Wilimovsky will be a good test for me. He obviously won the Worlds in 2015, he broke out quickly in Kazan and he's got a lot of speed because of his 1500m skills.

"It'll also be a good test to see if I can back up what happened in Abu Dhabi and keep moving forward."

And with the 23-year-old already thinking about redemption at the next Olympic Games, he is keen to take the lessons or races past into his future competitions.

"I've learnt lessons that will stand me in good stead as I have put what happened in Rio behind me but it's given me the fire in training to be better," he concluded.

Sportsbeat 2017