Rotherham’s Roebuck completes gold hat-trick

Carlin added the 400 metres freestyle to the 800m and 1,500m she had already won, while Roebuck took the 200m individual medley title to complement his 100m and 200m butterfly double.

It was the event’s debut and a legacy of former national performance director Michael Scott, who wanted the swimmers to face more intense competition.

The trials for July’s World Championships will be held in June this year and focus before then will no doubt fall on Dave McNulty’s programme in Bath which produced winners in Roebuck, Michael Jamieson, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Chris Walker-Hebborn and Beverley’s Lizzie Simmonds.

Carlin has battled illness over a difficult couple of years which culminated in missing out on the Olympic team.

The Swansea ITC swimmer was part of the Smart Track group alongside the likes of Fran Halsall and Simmonds that was set up by now departed pair Bill Sweetenham and John Atkinson.

Still only 23, Carlin has enjoyed her time in Leeds, although it was Hannah Miley who yesterday took out the 400m before the Welshwoman took over the lead with 100m to go.

Ultimately it was a clear win by more than two seconds as Carlin touched in four minutes 07.14 seconds.

She said: “I’m really happy with that. It was always going to be tough after the 1500m yesterday but I just said to my coach that I wanted to give it a go and to come away with gold is fantastic.

“The 400m is my favourite event but my coach thinks I may be better suited to the 800m and 1500m so we’ll need to have a sit down before June (World Championship trials) and discuss which to prioritise for the trials.”

Olympian Roebuck has also had a successful few days with victory in the 200m individual medley yesterday following gold in the 100m and 200m butterfly. Roebuck is clearly benefiting from his move to Bath ITC, where he trains alongside the likes of Olympic silver medallist Michael Jamieson and yesterday he led from start to finish to win in 2:00.04.

He said: “It was a really tough race tonight but I enjoyed being up against such a high-calibre field. I enjoy the 200m more (than the 400m medley) so I will be focusing on that for the rest of the season and will continue to work hard on my sprint speed in training.”