Renshaw ready to chase podium place at Tokyo Olympics

Mansfield's Molly Renshaw is all smiles after breaking her own British record at the Tokyo Olympics trials in London.

And, after making the 200m final in Rio, in which she finished sixth, Renshaw, 24, aims to finish on the podium this summer.

Renshaw finished in two minutes 20.89 seconds, to knock 1.19 secs off the previous mark at the Olympic Trials meeting held at London Aquatics Centre.

Renshaw's Loughborough team mate Abbie Wood finished second and is likely to join her in Japan after also going under the consideration time.

While the Olympic selection trials are the main opportunity to gain places at the Tokyo Games, swimmers will have further opportunities to qualify via the European Championships next month and the Mare Nostrum series in early June.

“I'm delighted to get that time,” she said. “In Rio I was happy to reach the final but this summer I want to move things on and challenge for a medal. I knew how well I was doing from Manchester, so I was excited to taper down and see what I could do.

“I’ve had bad luck with Olympic trials in the past, so that’s out the way and I’m so happy to have done the consideration time.

“I think I’d just like to improve on what I did at the last Olympics. “Going there, I was over the moon with making a final – I want to take that next step this year and aim for medals and be on the podium.”

She added: “Kicking off the season with the ISL (International Swimming League) really helped.

“There was a worry around it whether we would miss out on six weeks of vital training. But I think having that kind of race experience against the top in the world worked really well for the whole group and we all came back in great shape.

On her Instagram, she wrote: “Super happy to walk away from this week with 2 PBs and 2 Olympic Games consideration times - let the waiting game begin.”

Her bright optimism for Japan is in stark contrast with the heartbreak she suffered ahead of London 2012 when she lost her appeal after being left out of the GB team, despite swimming the qualifying time, when they stated their rules only guarantee the race winner a place on their squad.