Alice Dearing has been told her turbulent Tokyo experience will harden her for the heat of Paris Olympic battle. The Birmingham marathon swimming star, 25, became the first black female swimmer to represent Britain at an Olympic Games last year where she finished a disappointing 19th-place in the 10km event.
Ad But Keri-anne Payne, a Beijing 2008 marathon swimming silver medallist, believes that crucial first Olympic experience combined with three years more training will mean Dearing can challenge for a medal in Paris.
SwimmingPardoe's Tokyo turmoil will harden him ahead of Paris 2024 — PayneA DAY AGO The 35-year-old, speaking ahead of exactly 500 days to go until the Games this week, said: «The open water team in Britain at the moment is still a young team but it's really important for Alice to have had that previous Olympic experience. »With it being such a weird year with Covid, I really hope her training has been more robust this year. «Training for an Olympics by yourself, in an endless pool in your garden when you're a long distance swimmer, that is really tough. »But now, hopefully she's had this time to work on tactics. «Between Beijing and London I spent four years just racing as much as I could to try and deal with the punches, literally. »It can be tough in that environment, but you've got to roll with it and not let that effect you so hopefully that's what she took from Tokyo and it helps inspire her to Paris." Payne was catapulted into the spotlight during the Beijing 2008 Olympics after she won a silver medal in the women's 10km event.