COLCHESTER Swimming Club member Laura Stephens has already set her sights on preparing for the World Championships after today being selected in the Great Britain squad for South Korea.

The talented butterfly swimmer will compete in this summer's event in Gwangju, after being named in a 25-strong British Swimming team to compete at the event in July.

It will see Stephens make her senior international debut this summer, after she delivered a lifetime best at the British Championships last week, which doubled up as the selection meet for Gwangju.

The former Colchester County High School for Girls pupil, who is aiming to compete at next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, claimed two medals and smashed her personal best after shining in Glasgow.

Stephens told the Gazette: "I’m very happy with my performances at the British Championships.

"To do another PB on my 200m butterfly, swimming a time that ranks ninth fastest in the world this year is so encouraging, to see the effort I’ve been putting into training paying off and making big progress in my racing.

"Coming away with two medals and a selection for my first world long course championships, all the boxes were ticked.

"I'm now looking forward to getting back to work and preparing for South Korea."

Stephens, who is now based at Plymouth Leander, won 200 metres butterfly silver in an impressive new personal best (PB) time of 2:07.96.

The time ranks the talented 19-year-old in the world’s top eight.

It was the first time that Stephens has swum under 2:09 and she was only 0.07 seconds off the consideration time for the World Championships.

However, she was one of eight swimmers who gained selection for the World Championships at the discretion of the GB Head Coach and National Performance Director.

Stephens also won bronze in the 100m butterfly final, after clocking a time of 58.82.

She had earlier warmed up for her main events by finishing fourth in the 50m butterfly final, finishing in 26.95s.

British Swimming National Performance Director Chris Spice said: “We had another great British Championships in Glasgow where we saw some exceptional individual performances from our established group of senior swimmers.

“In terms of our discretionary selections, this year a key consideration was the need to qualify our relays for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, whilst resting those relay athletes that could have large schedules in Gwangju.

"Having said that, the standout swim from this category was Laura Stephens in the 200m butterfly, who just missed the world’s individual consideration time by 0.05 per cent, so she fully deserves her inclusion."