COLCHESTER Swimming Club member Laura Stephens says she is ready to produce some fast times on the senior world stage ahead of the World Championships in Canada.

The talented butterfly swimmer from Wix will compete for the right to be crowned world champion at the 25-metre event, which gets underway today in Windsor.

Stephens, 17, is part of a squad made up of 16 Great Britain swimmers at the event, including Rio Olympic medalists Stephen Milne and Dan Wallace and younger swimmers like Stephens.

For the next six days, they will go head-to-head in the faster waters of the 25m pool at the World Championships which provides athletes with one of their first international race opportunities, as the Tokyo 2020 cycle begins.

Stephens told the Daily Gazette: “I’m really excited for the World Championships.

“Training has been going well so it should be a really good competition.

“It’s going to be a challenge now I’m competing on the senior world stage but I feel ready to deliver some fast swims.”

Around 1,000 of the world’s best swimmers from more than 176 countries will compete at this week’s World Championships in front of an expected audience of more than 35,000 spectators.

They will compete for 46 gold medals, over six days of competition.

Stephens, who is now based at Plymouth Leander, has recently taken part in a three-week training camp at Flagstaff, Arizona.

The former Colchester County High School for Girls pupil was part of British Swimming’s systematic approach to the use of altitude training, designed to boost performance in the lead up to Tokyo.

Laura is looking for sponsorship to help her to continue her rapid progress in the sport. Anyone interested should contact Helen Stephens at hs_newport@hotmail.com