The World Championships in Poznan are approaching fast and we have been lucky in the UK with some great weather lately which provides for good quality water to train on. Everything is going well in my preparations and I feel I am in pretty good shape. I'm really looking forward to competing at my first World Champs since the Olympics. 

Tuesday 27th July marked 2 years to go until the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. I was lucky enough to go to a function held in the Olympic park where I got to walk across the main bridge into the Olympic stadium with many other athletes. It is a great opportunity to see the site taking shape and certainly motivates me for competition. After that I was in Trafalgar Square in London for another event which involved a huge screen showing video diaries from several athletes including me. You can see my two videos here.

Just on the way home from my first European Championships since 2008. It was held in Trasona, northern Spain in a beautiful location set on a dam surrounded by trees, hills, power lines and steel works. Quite a bumpy, small course but fair conditions and a high standard of competition. On Friday were the heats and semis for the 500m and 1000m events. I felt good and qualified through to the A finals in both distances. I was very disappointed with my 1000m final as I just felt totally lacking in power for some reason. Thankfully the next day I felt good again and was pleased with a close 4th placed finish in the 500m final. The 5km race started really well and I was straight into the lead group before being turned out of the race by another athlete. A real shame but part of this type of racing and it caused me to lose too much distance to catch the lead group again. For the GB team we had a superb championships culminating in five of our team being crowned European Champion in their events. The best results we have ever had by far. For the full results, see the championships website here.