SHORT-COURSE swimming isn’t top of Jazz Carlin’s favourites list, but the Wiltshire swimmer is determined to make the most of her selection for Great Britain in this month’s European Championships.

Former Wootton Bassett School pupil Carlin will join an 11-strong team for the event in Herning, Denmark, for the four-day event from next Thursday.

The 23-year-old joins the likes of World Championship medallist Fran Halsall and Hannah Miley in the Great Britain line-up.

Carlin, pictured, makes no bones about her talent being more suited to the longer pools.

But, having endured the heartbreak of seeing her bid for a London 2012 Olympics place wrecked by illness and then returning home without a medal from this summer’s World Championships, the Swansea-based swimmer is not about to pass up the chance to make an impact in international waters.

Carlin has already been included in the Wales team and will make her third appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year.

Next week’s event – coming in the middle of a hard training block – allows her the chance to assess her progress towards that goal.

“I’m not the best at short-course swimming, and I definitely prefer long course, but you are racing the best in Europe and I want to try and step up and do my best,’’ she told the Gazette & Herald.

“I’m in hard training at the moment so I want to see where I am and finish my year well.

“Turns aren’t the strongest part of my swimming and obviously you have a lot more of them in short-course so it’s a really tough event.

“Good short-course swimmers are usually better under water too, which is not something I’m the strongest at, but I want to give it a good go.”

Jazz Carlin is part of the British Gas GBR Swimming Team. British Gas are trying to get more people swimming regularly by 2015 through SwimBritain, a series of team relay events, coached sessions and training plans.

NEXT WEEK: Carlin looks ahead to the Commonwealth Games