Carlin hungry for more success in the pool

Carlin picked up silver medals in both the 400m and 800m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, completing the quartet of medalling in Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth competitions.

That haul may have seen the 26-year-old wish to hang up her goggles but, having missed out on a home Games in 2012 due to illness, she is keen to make the most of every opportunity.

The next major event will see her take to the pool in Budapest in the summer's World Championships, with her enjoyment of swimming undiminished.

"I sat down with Dave (coach Dave McNulty) after Rio and he said ‘are you going to carry on? I think you've still got more to give, I think you can still keep improving'," she told British Swimming.

"In Rio I still felt great when I was racing and I was still enjoying it. I will always love that racing environment so for now I just want to keep competing and keep trying to challenge myself every day.

"I am so lucky to be involved in the sport that I love and I am passionate about, and to do something like that every day you do feel very lucky to be able to say that."

Despite having ten World and European medals to her name, Carlin insists she is still striving to improve her performance with each day that comes.

That's something she'll be looking to test out in this month's British Swimming Championships, heading to Sheffield on April 18 eight years after first making the national team.

But Carlin is adamant it is not just herself she is striving to deliver a performance for, praising the contribution of coach McNulty with whom she started working in 2014 when she moved to Bath.

She added: "When I was walking down to the call room in Rio he gave me a really tight hug and I remember thinking I wasn't just doing it for myself, I was doing it for him as well for all the work that he has put in.

"He is that sort of coach that you want to do it for him, you want to make him proud, he puts in so much work, he is so dedicated and motivated and so passionate about what he does.

"It's natural to want to keep improving and in training you are always trying to find that edge that can help you improve or make that marginal difference.

"I still feel there are ways where I can improve and in Rio it was good to see it pay off in certain aspects and I was still getting faster. It's finding those small things which can make a big difference really."

Sportsbeat 2017