It has been a fabulous week so far for British swimming in Sheffield at a time when Dennis Pursley, head coach, is still in the process of getting his feet under the table. There is much work to be done - but less than half a year after assuming leadership of the 2012 Olympic host's shoal, the American sees plenty to please him.

There is the world record of Jo Jackson (400m: 4:00.66) and the race inside Federica Pellegrini's previous global mark by Rebecca Adlington (4:00.89), Hannah Miley's 2:09 200m medley European record and Ellen Gandy's 2:04 200m 'fly blast, the further progress of David Davies, up from 69th all time on a 3:49 over 400m free to 19th all-time on 3:45.24 (yes, all swum in one bodysuit or another, each with its own set of benefits that vary depending on the nature of the wearer), the latest steps of the younger 2012 generation, such as Fran Halsall, Jaz Carlin and Marco Loughran, the work of "some of the best coaches you will find anywhere in the world", and the £15m of British Gas sponsorship for British Swimming.

A fraction of that money will go directly to the elite end of the sport - but every little helps and the work going on lower down the food chain of fast swimming back to the birthing pool will surely serve the sport well in the years beyond the Games in Britain a little over three years away.

"It doesn't surprise me that they [Jackson and Adlington] swam that fast but it does surprise me that they did it now," said Pursley, surrounded by eight national newspapers at a British trials in Sheffield that witnessed five television crews, seven radio mikes and the recorders of 12 other reporters greet Adlington after her 800m final. You'd have to go back to the 1960s to find anything like it in domestic waters. Swimming in danger of shedding its attraction as a "once-every-four-years" sport. And what a happy state of affairs that would be. 

The Adlington effect and the overspill from Britain's six medals in Beijing, three in pool, three open water, are at play. A fair few here expected the usual British cold to be caught after a season of plenty: a downturn in fortune would almost inevitably follow an upswing. But it turned out to be a brighter day. "It took quite a while after the Games before they were back in to serious training and focussing. Joanne was sick for a while and of course Becky had all the pressure that comes with winning an Olympic gold medal. My expectation was that it was probably not before Rome before we saw that level of performance from them again so it was very exciting to see."

David Davies had been "equally impressive", said Pursley, noting the work of coach Kevin Renshaw in focussing on improving Davies's speed with a view to extending the longevity of the 2004 1500m Olympic bronze medallist and Olympic silver marathon man of 2008 in the 30-lap pool event. "The endurance in his races ... he can hold his own with anyone in the world. The front end speed has been a problem but based on the 400m, the work has really paid off." Davies will not make a decision on 30-lap v 10km for London 2012 until the Commonwealth Games next year. Pursely indicated that there may, in the end, be no choice if it came down to "evaluating half way through quadrennium to emphasise one over the other or whether to go for the double and put equal emphasis on both".

INSPIRATIONAL TARGETS

Renshaw also coaches Daniel Fogg, who will try to keep pace with Davies over 1,500m in the final tomorrow. Fogg and the likes of Carlin and many others are responsible for delivering a new aspect to British Swimming: for many years, the top two in each event, maximum, were out well ahead and rarely had to look over their shoulder to ensure selection, let alone entry to a domestic final. Depth is getting better all the time.

"It has a huge impact that British swimmers, every time they see one of their own breaking a world record or winning an Olympic gold medal ... it just increases the belief that maybe that can happen to them as well," said Pursley. Carlin's drop from 4:10 to 4:06 (in the same suit on both occasions) was a big gain. The Jackson-Adlington draw is doing in Britain what Laure Manaudou's historic breakthrough did for France of late. Whether Carlin's speed would have been quite the same "if Jo and Becky had not done the double '0' (4:00min), I just don't know the answer to that," said Pursley. "We susopected that had a lot to do with that. Becky was not on the world's radar screen four years out from Beijing." Nor was she doing a 4:06. From 2004 (inclusive) onwards, Adlington's best was 4:22; 4:15; 4:11; 4:09; 4:02.24; 4:00.89. Carlin's trajectory has been 4:17 (over a two-year plateau as a 16-17-year-old); 4:10; 4:06. And there's more to come. 

Of late, Pursley told Carlin (second to Adlington in the 800m tonight): "You're as close to the gold now as Becky was that far out of the Games." Closer, in fact, though as the head coach noted, we don't yet know where the race will be by 2012. Suffice it to say that more success will feed greater depth, which will force the pace at the front end. "Britain has improved dramatically in depth. US numbers will always dictate that Britain will not achieve that kind of [picture] but I would like to get to the point where swimmers have to challenge themselves to get into semis and finals. We're far from that yet but we're heading in the right direction."

JOURNEY ACROSS THE POND

The "we" for the former US head coach these days means Britain. Why make the leap across the pond? The "No 1 attraction" was that "I knew there would be a solid foundation following Bill Sweetenham's six-year tenure. He's a controversial guy but he is ...". Pursley reels back a moment before taking up at the point where he accepted the British challenge. "The results are starting to become evident in Beijing. It was clear that progress was very real. The foundation and momentum were there and, of course, with the London Games, having the Olympics in your own country is a huge advantage, a source of motivation."

Beyond the "great" platform provided by Sweetenham, Pursley held conversations with both Australians, the one leaving and the one arriving, Michael Scott. "The more he [Scott] revealed about the infrastructure in place and what he was putting in place ... I was really impressed and thought 'all of the pieces of the puzzle are in place'. At that point I really didn't know personally well enough the coaches and swimmers but I'd had a close relationship with Bill Sweetenham for many, many years, dating back to my coaching days in Australia and he felt the right thing was happening in the coaching ranks and in the pool. And since I've been here it has become apparent to me that that is the case. The more I looked at it the more excited I became."

SWEETENHAM LEGACY

Asked whether he felt that Sweetenham's "cultural revolution" was tangible, Pursley said: "There has been a dramatic change of culture looking from the outside looking in and I think all the coaches would agree with that. Not all of them liked his style but I don't think that anyone can argue with the results. There's a lot of different ways to skin the cat or climb the mountain and one of the things I'm going to try to do is maybe break a mould in the mindset that there is only one way to do 'that', to do things. The biggest change has been in the work ethic ... the intensity of work being done, the whole programme has become more professional in its approach and that is maybe Bill's biggest contribution."

A question from the left about the Australian's "methods" prompts the American to reply: "His lack of diplomacy could be seen as a weakness or a strength. What you see is what you get with Bill. He speaks what's on his mind. Some people like it, others don't. But he's made a positive impact wherever he's been. Bill had to turn the ship around. He had to fight all the hard battles. I think he was successful at that but it came at a cost. I think it wore him down. I think by the end he maybe didn't recognise himself the difference that he had made and the positive impact he had had on the progress that the country had made. I'm speculating there, of course, but the early fights and battles just took their toll. But Michael Scott will be the first to tell you, along with me, that much of the success that British Swimming is enjoying right now is attributable to his leadership and the response of the coaches."

HOW WELL CAN BRITAIN DO?

The next stage in Britain's advance would depend on a "number of important things for us to fully realise potential in London 2012". They included "for different athletes and different events we have to take a different approach and not be 'doing this in this way and that in that way' and being boxed in". But, he added, "by the same token, when it comes to the overall programme and plan, we need to be a really tightly bonded unit and eliminate as much as is humanly possible the tendency to want to maybe resist or go off in a different direction, We have to come together. There is room for individuality as far as personalities are concerned, as far as training methodology and training programmes." The greater emphasis when tams gathered together would be placed on unity of purpose and preparation.

In May, Britain will hold national squad camp. "I don't want to have 50 different swimmers doing 50 different programmes," said Pursley. "We need to have all out top IM'ers together and have all the coaches ... know what we're doing in that week of training. We need to have all the sprinters together and all distance swimmers together etc. There has to be a developing the expectation of that ... we're not going to be a team that rides on the back of one or two swimmers. We're going to have a team of swimmers that are going to contribute to the medal count. And we'll develop that expectation. I truly believe that we have a potential in Britain to accomplish that."

There would be no number-of-medals style predictions on the way to London 2012, said the head coach, but then revealed his great expectation: "I think we will win a significant larger number of medals in a wider range of events in London 2012 than the six won in Beijing [three pool, three open water]." The USA was dominant and Australia clear No2, he noted, and it was "unrealistic" to think that Britain could gatecrash that party by 2012. "But it is realistic to compete for the that 3rd position" against the likes of Japan, France, Russia, Germany and others.

To that end, Britain will join Russia and France at a dual-in-the pool against the USA in December this year and from February next year will launch an annual GB Vs Germany dual. More racing of that kind would help on many levels. So too will the sports science being shared between swimming, British cycling, rowing and other successful sports, Pursley confirmed. Emphasis was being placed on developing the Intensive Training Centres that serve as one of Sweetenham's legacy in a national programme transformed dramatically from where Britain was 10 years ago soon after it first decided to appoint a performance director, in the form of Deryk Snelling.

A home-based programme was the best for Brits, said Pursley with a nod to national-team members training across the pond in his homeland. "We're doing ecverything we can to discourage that. There's a whole laundry list of concerns over the NCAA. It is absolutely not focussed on international competition. I think our athletes are better staying at home."

TALENT

He refused to single out individuals for special praise, stating simply that "the area where we have obvious strengths is the middle distance programme ... we want to make a concerted effort to make prgress on sprints. Progres has been made and now we're trying to bring it up to the next level." 

Raw talent counted for much and talent ID would continue apace for serving Britain well beyond London 2012, said the mentor of legendary 'flyer Mary T Meagher, whose 100m and 200m world records stood for 20 years or so. "She was one that had records that held for a couple of decades, so you don't see a lot of those swimmers anywhere at any time. I was just real fortunate to have one jump into my pool when I was coaching." Had he seen any sign of the phenomenal in Britain? "I really haven't been here long enough to really, fully have a feel for Britain in that sense," said Pursley at his first major domestic event in the country. "This is the first time I've ever seen a lot of these people compete. I've been around to training programmes and then in most cases seen just one or two training sessions. My first impresion is that we do have the talent here in Britain and the level of coaching that will be required for us to take abnother big step in international competition."

One big focus would be relays, and to that end relay camps would be held. He would place quartets and reserves in an "isolated situation and focus on that objective of winning medals" in relays. "For success you have got to have the talent but you also have to have that talent well-prepared," he noted.

SUITS

And that meant on all aspects of their sport. Noticeable at British trials that a number of key swimmers are trying out a number of different suits - one at once - in readiness for what may or may not be allowed when the first round of tests after the signing of the Dubai Charter leads to the compilation of an approved list of suits.

When would be a good moment to know what will be on the suits list? "A few months ago," he laughed. "It's an issue right now. I really want to be clear that I think FINA is doing about as good a job as it can do in addressing this issue. I think it will be two or three years before we are where I would like to see us be. I hope that happens but I think it is moving in that direction. I certainly understand that its a complicated issue and that we can't have a solution in one meet or one week. It is not going to be where I would like to see it in Rome, certainly. Probably not in 2010 either. But hoping that by the time the Games come round in 2012 we will be in the kind of situation that we would all like to see."

He added: "They are moving in the right direction but as far as exactly what we can wear ... until we know the specifics it is going to be wide open in Rome and we need to be prepared for that." 

Asked from the right if he was "against" generation 2008 suits, he said: "I am. There is a line where prior to this latest generation of suits the technology in suit manufacturing served to maximise the performance of the athlete and talent and abailit of the athlet. I think that this new generation of suits has crossed that line and has gone into the area of enhancing performance and enabling [swimmers] to perform to levels above what they would achieve through their natural abilities. To me that's crossing the line. I don't fault anyone for that. It's a natural progression and we've come to recognise [what's happened] and the majority of coaches and athletes would, I think, agree with that view".

FINA, he noted, had "moved slowly but was now at the point where they 'understand and are committed to pulling back on the other side of that line'." He was not in favour of repositioning the world-record books, given the history of the sport, which took no account of a rule change such as backstroke turns and underwater swimming, nor one which had been altered to right the wrongs of the GDR era and the State Plan 14:25 that had fed a diet of steroids to thousands of athletes, including swimmers, and changed the natural course of the sport's history."

"I think we're going to see these suits changes implemented over a couple of years," said Pursley. Records will not be as common as we have seen in the last year." And that was no bad thing.

When next would we see world records broken, asked a reporter in the mistaken belief that March 31 would rule out all problems of 2008. "Hopefully in July of this year," laughed Pursley. "There have always been some exceptional records. You could have some records that were inspired today by the suits that could take a couple of decades to break but to try to identify which ones is something I can't do."

Extraordinary athletes would continue to do extraordinary things regardless of changed circumstances in the pool. Michael Phelps was a case in point. The winner of eight gold medals is determined to plough on to 2012. A good thing for swimming? "Yes, it's good for media focus - but he will very pressed to maintain the focus and intensity of what's gone. If he gets close to repeating what he's already done it would be an even greater achievement. And a lot of athletes no longer see him as invincible." 

With that, Pursley turned his mind from one incredible journey back to his own at the helm of a Britannia squad that aims to rule at least some of the waves on the way to a home Games.