JESSICA Dickons has already realised one of her greatest sporting ambitions by winning a place in this month's World Championships in Melbourne - now the Stockton swimmer wants to fulfil another by establishing herself among the top 16 women in the world.

The 16-year-old, who has been a member of the Stockton club since the age of eight, will compete in both the 100m and 200m butterfly next week as the world's best swimmers converge on Australia.

The priority at her first World Championships will be to gain valuable experience ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

But while a medal is out of the question at such an early stage of her swimming career, Dickons has not travelled to Australia simply to make up the numbers.

"Just to have qualified for this championships is a massive achievement," said the Teessider. "I'm really excited because this is the biggest competition I've ever swam in.

"It's all about getting the experience of racing against world record holders and world champions, but I still have things I want to achieve.

"The 200m butterfly is my strongest event, and I'd like to think that I'd be able to qualify for the semi-finals in that one. I'm seeded 14th so I know I'm capable of doing it."

This time last year, Dickons was still swimming as a junior, but a sustained spell of success has seen her catapult up the British rankings.

Two medals at last year's European Junior Championships were followed by the 200m butterfly title at the British Seniors, and the teenager underlined her ability in the autumn by finishing fifth in the 200m butterfly final at the European Long Course Championships.

This month's World Championships represent another significant staging post in her career, but Dickons' priority for 2007 is to qualify for next year's Olympic Games.

"You don't like to look too far ahead, and at the moment I'm simply concentrating on doing myself justice out here in Australia," said Dickons, who will be setting her alarm clock for an early rise next Tuesday so she can telephone home to discover how her beloved Middlesbrough are faring in their FA Cup quarter-final replay with Manchester United.

"But I think everyone's already starting to think about next year's Olympics a little bit.

"The trials will be at the end of this year, so once the Worlds are out of the way it'll be a case of getting stuck into some hard training to start building up to them."

Most of that training will take place in Stockton, but if Dickons wants to experience an Olympic-size 50m swimming pool, she currently has to travel all the way to Leeds.

The likes of Newcastle's Chris Cook and Hartlepool's Jemma Lowe are also in the same boat, although the situation is set to improve once a new 50m pool within the shadow of Sunderland's Stadium of Light is completed.

The framework of the new complex is now in place, and Dickons claims that the presence of a 50m pool in the region will provide a massive boost to North-East swimming.

"You don't need to train in a 50m pool every day," she said. "But every now and then you do need to be in a pool of that size to work on your turns and things like that.

"At the moment, that means something like a 200-mile round trip and that's hardly ideal if you're talking about a night or an early morning.

"It'll be great to be able to go to Sunderland and train in a long-course pool when I need to.

"I'll still be based in Stockton, but I'm sure my coach will have me in the new pool every so often."