When she lines up on the blocks at the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships, Georgia Davies will have come full circle.
That’s quite a statement for an athlete who has competed at every level of the sport, stretching to two Olympic Games and no fewer than ten gongs at European level.
But her first medal wearing the Great Britain cap came at the 2011 edition of the European Short Course Championships, held in the Polish city of Szczecin.
The backstroke specialist made her international debut the year before as part of the Welsh team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, bringing home 50m bronze.
The switch from one length to two and a GB debut suited Davies down to the ground, coming out on top in a breakneck dash for 50m back silver, touching 0.1 ahead of third and 0.4 ahead of fourth.
It was all sweeter as she’d missed out on the podium by a whisker in the 100m back on the previous evening, 0.23 shy of the bronze medal position.
It was all vital experience for Davies, who had a busy week in Poland with 200m and relay responsibilities to juggle.
“I swam five times on the day I won silver – it was tough to get up for it mentally and psych myself up,” she said at the time.
“I was really disappointed with the 100. I thought I was capable of going faster and I felt a bit down on the morning, but my teammates picked me up and I was delighted to get the medal.”
Davies harnessed every iota of the experience the Short Course Championships gave her in terms of dealing with tight turnarounds and going through the rounds in a high-stakes competition.
There was no bigger stage than London 2012 and seven months later Davies was on the start line at the Aquatics Centre, finishing sixth in her 100m backstroke heat and exiting in the semi-finals.
She enjoyed a successful Rio Olympic cycle and a scintillating 2014, becoming a Commonwealth champion and winning three medals at the 2014 European Long Course Championships.
But she had to wait until 2018 for her first individual title, claiming 50m backstroke glory in Glasgow at the European Championships.
Can she continue her love affair with the iconic Scottish city in December?
Social handles
Twitter – @Ge0rgiaDavies90
Instagram – Georgiabdavies
Short course personal bests
50m backstroke – 26.24 (2015, British record)
100m backstroke – 56.45 (2016)
Fun Fact
Georgia is part of the Energy Standard franchise in the ISL and now based in Antalya, Turkey.