Payne: Plenty more to come from Burnell

Making his first appearance of the season, Burnell beat a field of more than 80 swimmers at the Emirates Palace Bay to win gold at the Abu Dhabi leg of the 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup earlier this month.

That included a sprint finish to edge out Dutchman Ferry Weertman, showing the 23-year-old very much means business this campaign.

Last summer Burnell was disqualified from the men's 10km open water swim at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after being handed two yellow cards for infringements in the water – a decision the swimmer himself labelled a joke.

He took a break from the sport before storming back with victory earlier this month and the now retired Payne believes that disappointment will drive Burnell on to lead from the front for the next three years to Tokyo 2020.

"I think everyone was pretty shocked when he got disqualified in Rio. A lot of people know of his ability and know that he is a great open water swimmer," she added.

"Jack's strength now is having another four years of experience. He's a young athlete and has a lot to learn still in terms of races.

"He'll have a lot more races that don't go his way. The Olympics meant the world to him, and so not getting what he wanted is only going to be a great experience for him.

"It will ultimately make him stronger. If he can now go into races with a slightly different mindset, and try to learn new experiences every time he goes into a race, he's going to be a real force to reckon with.

"I'm really excited to see how he gets on."

Two-time World Champion and Olympic silver medallist Payne, who is an ambassador for the SportsAid charity, announced her own retirement from the sport in January of this year.

And she admitted she had found it strange not to be on the circuit with Burnell again, revealing that her absence had led him to getting into a bit of trouble.

"I'm basically the team mum. He didn't wear any sun cream so he got sunburn, so I was shaking my head at him over the phone," she added.

"It was so good to see him win in Abu Dhabi, though.

"It was so strange for me seeing them all go away to compete without me, although I expect I'll feel that a lot over the next couple of years.

"I text Jack saying well done and how impressed I was with how well he swam.

"He went through the swim with me, telling me how it went and talking through the challenges he'd faced.

"It was good that he was in good enough shape to be able to win the World Cup." Sportsbeat 2017