Commonwealth champion Brodie Williams said he will be aiming for a debut medal when he takes to the pool at the World Championships on Friday.
Williams won gold in the 200m backstroke at the 2022 Games in Birmingham, his first major individual international medal.
The 24-year-old is ramping up his preparations one year from the Paris Olympics as he seeks selection.
He finished fourth at the Worlds last year, his best result at the event.
“I think it’s only right to aim for a medal,” Williams told BBC Points West.
“If I go out there and get a personal best I’ll be happy with that as well but I want to be on the podiums hopefully, that’s what I want to do. I just [have to] try my best I guess.”
Somerset-born Williams came away from the Commonwealth Games two years ago with three medals, including another gold in the 4x100m medley relay and a silver in the 100m backstroke.
He says he watches the races back almost every month as were so integral to his career, for both him and his family.
“It’s built a lot of confidence for me, especially on the international stage. I know that I can get amongst the medals now, it’s just doing it with the Commonwealths and adding a few more countries in there,” Williams said.
“It’s done me a lot of good and I’m just looking forward to moving it on.”
Williams made his Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021 and finished 15th in the 200m backstroke.
He trains under esteemed coach David McNulty, at the British Performance Centre in the University of Bath – where team-mates include Olympic champions Tom Dean and Freya Anderson – and said the gaps in his performance that he is trying to bridge are much smaller now.
“They’re coming down, it’s more little margins now. You get to the point where it’s small differences that make a bigger result,” Williams said.
“It’s not like when you were young and could jump in the pool and drop 10 seconds. Things are getting there, it’s just the plan that Dave puts in training into the race.”
Yet with the Olympics in Paris now exactly a year away, Williams’ preparations are ramping up even further.
“That year going into the Olympics you really have to switch on, and it’s almost like that is your life that year. It is the Olympics and getting ready for it,” Williams continued.
“It just takes some more dedication than we already provide. I’ll basically be devoting my life to swimming, even more so. It’s more doing the little things right and being more diligent about everything you do day-to-day.”
