MIDDLESBROUGH swimmer Aimee Willmott claims narrowly missing out on victory in last year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships has provided her with an extra edge ahead of her second World Championships.

Willmott secured two silver medals at last summer’s Commonwealths as well as a silver and bronze at the Europeans, and will be hoping she can medal once again in Kazan next week after posting the third fastest time in the world this year.

It will be the 22-year-old’s second World Championships after she just missed out on the final in Barcelona in 2013.

A lot has happened since then, and Willmott admits last year’s successive narrow misses have made her all the more hungry this time around.

“Since I started coming into the seniors, my times have always been getting quicker and I have just been on the outside, and each year you hope to get closer to the number one and two in the world and those who are swimming the best all year,” said Willmott, who will compete in both the 400m Individual Medley and 200m butterfly in Russia.

“In the last couple of years I have been swimming well at the beginning of the year and was left wondering why I wasn’t swimming as well at the end of the year.

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“But now as I am getting older, I am growing up and learning more about my event and my competitors.

“It doesn’t matter what anyone is doing in January or anything like that. It is about making sure you do the best you can when you race. You have to believe you have done as much as you can, and then on race day you have to give everything.”

The former Middlesbrough Amateur Swimming Club member, who is now based in London, will be competing on the final day of the World Championships and plans to round off what she hopes will be a successful tournament for the GB squad in style.

One of her main rivals for gold will be team-mate Hannah Miley, who pipped her to the 400m IM title at the Commonwealths and has the second fastest time of the year behind Hungarian Katinka Hosszu, who won last year’s Europeans.

However, Willmott is confident recent form will count for little when the trio dive into the pool in a fortnight’s time.

“The Commonwealth Games and the Europeans were a big step for me,” she said. “I had won a few short-course medals but I had not won anything over long course.

“After just missing out on gold at the Commonwealth Games, swimming at the Europeans helped me correct the things I had done wrong at the Commonwealths. So to have two meets back-to-back was really good.

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“I have swum at one World Championships before and finished ninth, just outside the final, so this year I hope to get in the final and once you are in there, it is anyone’s race.

“You can’t say, ‘Well, they are going to win because they are the world record holder or because they are swimming the best all year’. Anything can happen on the day. My main aim is to get into the final, and once I do that, I’ll worry about everything else from there.”

Britain’s leading Paralympic swimmers were in action on National Paralympic Day last week, and Crook’s Lyndon Longhorne felt the opportunity to compete at the London Aquatics Centre, on the OIympic Park, was an important step along the road to potential selection for next year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Three years ago, the then 16-year-old – who lost his legs and an arm to meningitis when he was a child – was selected to carry the Olympic torch as part of the Torch Relay.

Now, however, he is pursuing his own sporting path and targeting a place on the British squad for next year’s Paralympics.

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He clocked a time of 52.21secs on his way to finishing third in the S5 50m backstroke last week, and says swimming in the same pool as some of his heroes is something he will never forget.

“To swim in the Olympic venue is amazing, and to know that this is where world champions have been swimming from London 2012 and since is great,” said Longhorne, who is a former winner of The Northern Echo’s Local Heroes Awards.

“Just to be in the same water as them is great, and the atmosphere is especially brilliant. When you’ve got 15 metres to go and you turn and see the crowd all cheering and going crazy, it gives you that little bit extra drive and a bit of a boost.

“For nationals, I just want to swim the best I ever have and see what happens from there. Rio is a long-term goal, but it’s going to be a really tough challenge for me. It’s a huge motivator though, and that’s why I’m getting up early and pushing myself so hard.”

* Aimee Willmott is one of 1,300 athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery supported World Class Programme. Find out more at www.uksport.gov.uk. National Paralympic Day is generously supported by Spirit of 2012. Find out more at www.paralympics.org.uk/npd2015.