Jacob Peters is set for a busy summer.
Having broken into senior sides earlier in the year as part of Team England’s Commonwealth Games squad the 17-year old also has junior and senior European Championships to contend, as well as sitting A-Level exams in maths, biology and physics.
He is one of five swimmers set to compete in both junior and senior events this summer, joining Freya Anderson, Emily Large, Nick Pyle and Tom Dean.
Poole-based Peters said: “I went to World Juniors last year
and that was my first serious international competition representing Great
Britain.
“Then going to the Gold Coast was like nothing I’d ever experienced before – the crowd, the atmosphere, the team – it was such a great opportunity.
“It was the biggest crowd I’ve ever been in front of, but my
first race was against Chad le Clos and Ben Proud, so I was less worried about
the noise and more worried about them.”
This was, of course the race that World Record holder, and
British team mate Proud was disqualified from, after being judged to have
twitched on the starting blocks.
Jacob added: “I was gutted for Ben but I was so focused on my own race I didn’t even realise anything had happened until I looked up at the score board.
“But I think it went really well for me overall. I
definitely took things away from it that I can use in my future races. It just
proved to me that you have to just focus on your own race and process,” he
added.
Taking this knowledge into Helsinki the Poole Grammar School
pupil has firm goals for the rest of the summer.
“I’d like to PB at the junior event, and if I can do that I
don’t think I’ll be too far off a medal.
“I am treating the two events as entirely separate things –
I’m not going to hold back in Helsinki because I’m thinking about Glasgow. I’m
just going to follow the process I do for every race.
“In Glasgow I want to get another PB and then make a final.
You look at the quality within the British team and it’s so high with the likes
of Jimmy and Duncan. And that’s without the guys from the other countries!”
Once Jacob has finished both competitions, he is hoping to
have some time away with his family. With just the small matter of his A-level
results to collect too.
The European Juniors take place from July 4 to 8 with the senior equivalent
from August 3 to 9 as part of the multi-sport event. Glasgow 2018. Tickets are available here.