Swimming: Sheppard keeps focus on road to Barcelona

Alison Sheppard stands at the top of the world rankings in sprint freestyle and this week she dives back into the competition pool in Sheffield to gain selection to the World Championships in Barcelona in July.

Even with memories of her Commonwealth gold medal still so clear in her thoughts, the Scot will take nothing for granted in the 50m freestyle final at the British National Championships this week.

Looking ahead to her first long-course competition since the Commonwealth Games, Sheppard said: "I'm looking forward to competing as I haven't raced since the World Cup in January. I'm not sure how quick I'll be, but it will be interesting to see where I am.

"Barcelona and the World Championships are my main focus of the year so it all starts here."

Another Commonwealth gold medallist, Adam Whitehead, also hopes to get back into competition at the national championships. But unlike Sheppard, he has suffered a series of injuries since winning gold in the 100m breaststroke final in Manchester.

"It's quite hard to see how I'm going to swim in Sheffield," he said. "I've done great swims off interrupted training before so we'll just have to see. It's all down to how you're feeling on the day."