How jellyfish can help Jazz Carlin sting her Olympic rivals

Double Rio silver medallist Jazz Carlin has set her sights on a potential golden double at the Tokyo Olympics in both open water and the pool.

Carlin will next week make her World Cup debut over 10kilometres. It is part of an ambitious plan by the 27-year-old for the next Games.

“Tokyo is the end goal - and that goal is chasing a gold medal in Tokyo,” she said ahead of her debut in the marathon of swimming in Chun’An, China, a week on Sunday.

“Right now, I’ve got options where that can be, whether open water, the pool or both.”

Holland’s Sharon van Rouwendaal has made the transition from pool as a World Championship medallist to open water, where she was crowned Olympic champion in Rio.

Carlin is hopeful she can double up in both formats. “I’m still very focused on the 400 and 800m, plus the 1500m is being added to the Olympic programme,” she said.

“But this is something I always toyed with. Some people give me funny looks, asking ‘why do that to yourself?’ but I enjoy the different focus.”

A combination of illness, injury and post-Rio burnout meant Carlin took the decision to miss this summer’s World Championship, which she admits made for tough viewing. But during that time she dipped her toe in the water with open-water swimming, first at a local lake and then in her first race over 3.8km in Tenby.

“That was an interesting start as it was a mass start of 2,000 people running into the sea at the same time, and mixed in with men,” she said. “You take a few knocks.”

She finished fourth overall and the first woman she says, in part, “because there were jellyfish - that’s a big phobia of mine - so that helped me swim faster”.

Her acid test comes with the 10km in China followed by another World Cup race over the same distance in Hong Kong six days later.