Renshaws looking ahead to Gold Coast 2018

That’s according to her mum Jane who says her daughter Molly is looking forward to her second Commonwealth Games and returning to Australia.

Renshaw junior went to Australia two years ago with the rest of England’s swimming prospects to familiarise themselves with the new surroundings.

And it’s put her in good stead for when the action begins in little less than three months time, with the Games’ opening ceremony scheduled for April 4th.

“They were out there for a couple of months,” said Jane. “They trained at the same place where the Games are being held so she knows the area.

“She loved it, really enjoyed the place and is looking forward to going out again. It was a worthwhile experience for her and the others.

“She’s really looking forward to going back out there. Hopefully everything will go well. It’ll be her second time at the Commonwealth Games.”

Molly clinched two medals at Glasgow 2014, with a silver in the 4x100m medley and bronze in the individual 200m breaststroke.

“It was so exciting the first time around. That was the first big games that we had been to to see her compete.

“She’d done the European Cup but we weren’t there at the time. It was the first big one for us to see her there.

“It was amazing to see her get her medals there,” said Jane, who has made plans to tie in a family holiday around watching Molly compete.

“We’ve never been to Australia so it’ll be a first for us. We’ll be heading out there and make a bit of a holiday out of it as well.”

Molly was one of the 15 athletes to be named among the first phase of selections by Swim England in October of last year.

It came after another impressive swim from the former Ripley Rascal junior in the summer at the 2017 World Championships.

She reached the final of the 200m breaststroke in Budapest and finished sixth with her second fastest time of 2:22.96.

It was just outside her personal best time of 2:22.33 which she set to reach the final in the event at Rio 2016 Olympics.

While 2017 also saw Molly claim silver at the British Swimming Championships and bronze in the 200m individual medley in Sheffield.

“She’s made steady progress since Glasgow,” said Jane. “She keeps improving and her times have got better over the few years.

“This year wasn’t quite as good as the Olympics but I think she was really happy with the year and getting a second fastest time she’s ever done.

“There’s normally a lapse after an Olympic year due to the training cycle so we want her to carry on and be at that level we know she can perform at.

“Their training is a four-year cycle. After the Olympics is year one and so on up to year four when they’ll be at their peak.

“You will always find after the Olympics that some of the swimmers take a longer break, some take a little longer to get back in to it.

“It maybe why their times aren’t as good. But they deserve the break. It’s four years of hard work so she was quite happy looking back at 2017.”