BEIJING Olympic swimming silver medalist Keri-Anne Payne gave a masterclass in water sports at Blenheim Palace on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old and 10 kilometre swimming world champion at the 2009 Commonwealth Games was promoting the Swim Britain event.

She said: “Since Beijing and London 2012 it has been really exciting to see swimming grow as a sport.

“Last year’s event was amazing and Blenheim is a really beautiful location with lots of history.

“We want people to start having a go at events like this more often.”

Ms Payne, who is having a rest year, will start intensive training in October for the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

She added: “At the moment I am just doing five training sessions a week, but that will go back up to 10 or more.”

Swim Britain is a series of team swimming relay competitions taking place to promote the sport for exercise.

Blenheim Palace will host its open water event on September 7, also supported by homelessness charity Shelter.

Teams of four swimmers will complete a relay swim of 1,000m or 500m.

Anyone aged 16 and older is welcome to compete.

For further information or to take part in the event, visit swimbritain.co.uk/signup

Our top stories: