JAZMIN Carlin was dealt the first black mark of her burgeoning career this summer and with the Olympic trials now fast approaching she has vowed to work doubly hard to wipe it off.

Having watched fellow long-distance freestyle specialists Rebecca Adlington and Jo Jackson win Olympic medals in Beijing in 2008, Carlin, who is supported by British Swimming’s principal partner British Gas, set about announcing herself in the aftermath.

And it came in the form of 4x200m relay bronze on her World Championship debut in 2009, alongside none other than double Olympic champion Adlington, Jackson and Caitlin McClatchey.

All three highlighted Carlin’s contribution and indeed she gained individual honours in the form of Commonwealth 200m silver and 400m bronze last year only for her progress to be cruelly halted.

Having qualified for the 400m and 800m for July’s World Championships in Shanghai at a relative canter alongside Adlington in March, the 21-year-old was soon struck down with glandular fever.

It reduced her to brief appearances in the heats in China and out of the 4x200m relay but with Carlin more than on the mend she wants to prove it was a mere blip on her otherwise rapid progression.

“I was really happy with my times in March but coming down with glandular fever was a big disappointment,” said Carlin – who is encouraging swimming for 30 minutes once a week which burns up to 350 calories and tones your body as part of British Swimming’s Big Splash.

“It was really hard to pick myself up and obviously when you have got an injury or an illness it is hard to do the work but I dealt with it and I want to come back fighting this year.

“And I am 100 per-cent trying to look after myself now, I have got the best recovery going and I am eating healthily and hopefully that can help.

“It could have come this coming year, this is the year that everyone is aiming for and focusing on and I am just really getting back into it and training and working hard to get the best results I can.

“I would like to think I am improving, I am obviously still working on the little things in training to improve and it is good to have the trials and things to focus on.

“I just want to go out and do the best I can, the competition is going to be really tough, everyone will be competing there and I have to train as hard as I can and hopefully something will come from it.”

At the trials for the Beijing Olympics at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge back in 2008, Carlin touched home in fourth in the 400m before finishing eighth in the 200m – both won by Adlington.

Carlin will spend the crucial build up to this year’s trials, which are in March in London, across the pond in America and, while admitting she wasn’t ready in 2008, she believes she will be in 2012.

“Back in the season of 2007-2008 I had just moved to a new programme and I was only 17 and I wasn’t expecting anything,” added Carlin, who is helping to promote the 1000 pools across the UK offering Big Splash events, taster sessions, and special offers to customers.

“I wasn’t ready then, I was still young and still improving and over the past few years I have learnt what works best for me and I have given it time.

“Up until January I will be in Swansea and then I am going to California and then Texas for a Grand Prix for some tough competition with the likes of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

“It will be really stiff competition but that will be good preparing us for the Olympic trials and we will get to train outdoors and it should help us improve.”

British Swimming’s Big Splash campaign is supported by principal partner British Gas, and supporting partners Kellogg’s and Speedo. For more information on great swimming activities and offers visit www.bigsplash.co.uk