Dan Jervis hopes his rekindled love of swimming will help him to reach his Olympic dream at Olympic Games in 2024

Dan Jervis hopes his rekindled love of swimming will carry him all the way to the Paris Olympics after a strong showing at the World Short Course Championships.

The 26-year-old lowered his own Welsh record from 14:32.44 seconds to 14:30.47, finishing sixth in the 1500m freestyle in Melbourne.

And following a turbulent spell in and out of the pool, the Tokyo Olympian is ready to feel the highs of the Games once more.

“Paris was always my dream,” he said.

“To go to the Tokyo Olympics and perform with Team GB was an absolute dream and I want to find that again and enjoy that moment again.

“And this swim was a good step forward for me.

“My aim was to come out here and fall in love with the sport.

“Swimming is my dream job and I’ve been calling that into question in these last few months, but my aim was to come out here and love swimming again.

“That swim’s just proved that I’m enjoying myself.”

Abbie Wood also claimed a sixth-place finish on day one in Melbourne, taking to the pool for the women’s 200m individual medley.

The Loughborough-based swimmer touched out France’s Charlotte Bonnet for sixth in a time of 2:07.28.

It was a USA one-two as Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh took gold and silver respectively.

Great Britain’s women swam to a seventh-place finish in the 4x100m freestyle relay, Anna Hopkin leading out the first leg in style to turn second.

But it was the Australians who dominated, smashing the previous world record by over a second as Emma McKeon became the first female to swim a sub-50 second 100m.

McKeon anchored her team to gold in a stunning time of 49.96 seconds, flying past the USA’s Erika Brown in the final 50m.

And the records kept falling as Italy claimed gold in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay with another world record time.

Thomas Ceccon stopped the clock at 3:02.75, breaking the USA’s previous record of 3:03.03 and closing out the first day of action.