The first strokes of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will feel that bit nearer for Aquatics GB's pool swimmers this week as they prepare to compete at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome (21st-23rd June).
All 30 members of the group that will take to the Olympic pool in six weeks' time will be racing hard and putting the work from their latest training block into action at the iconic Foro Italico, in what is the only competition that sees our full Olympic pool swimming team come together before the Games.
With preparation and fine-tuning the name of the game, the GB swimmers will have busy programmes, with many contesting at least three events in as many days as they aim to gain more valuable arena exposure on the eve of the Games.
New British record holder Oliver Morgan (pictured), Jonathon Marshall and Luke Greenbank got things started as the Men's 100m Backstroke heats dived into action from 8am BST today (Friday 21st June), with day one's other highlights including the Women's 200m Freestyle - involving Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay regulars Freya Anderson, Freya Colbert, Abbie Wood, Lucy Hope and Medi Harris - plus Adam Peaty and James Wilby contesting the Men's 100m Breaststroke, and Ben Proud among a host of GB competitors hitting the water to sprint down the Men's 50m Freestyle.
Rounding out a packed three days of racing will be the Women's and Men's 200m Individual Medley finals on Sunday evening, in between which Britain's Olympic-bound swimmers will have hoped to have got multiple swims under their belts.
Looking ahead to the competition, Aquatics GB Performance Director Chris Spice said: "This Sette Colli meet is the next important step in our final journey into the Games. It is a preparation meet, so we just want to go and race hard, get used to racing heats and finals again against some really high-class swimmers, and use our race preparation and processes as we will be doing at the Olympic Games in just over a month.
"Aside from the racing, the fact that our full Olympic team are on the ground at the competition makes it a great opportunity for the team - athletes and staff - to work together and gel even tighter as a group, before they head away for final preparations at their own training centres after this and then come back together at our Olympic holding camp in Reims.
"Everything we do between now and 27th July is about making sure every single athlete is in the best place, physically and mentally, to perform in Paris. We are excited to keep moving towards that."
As well as the Team GB Olympic swimming team, there are multiple other British competitors taking to the Foro Italico pool at what is always a well-contested European meet at this time of the season.
Follow all the results and start list information here.
To watch the racing, head over to Italian Swimming Federation's YouTube channel.