POOL torpedo Helen Don-Duncan has got the green light to jet Down Under on a medal mission.

For Garswood-based 19-year-old Helen has been selected in the British team to compete in next month's Olympic Games in Sydney, and will jet out from Manchester for the six-week trip on August 17.

Petite, blue-eyed, brown-haired, and former pupil of Cansfield school and Winstanley College, Helen is a member of Ashton Swimming Club, and earned her place after winning a gold medal in the 200m backstroke at the Olympic trials in Sheffield, with her long-course record time being 2.11.25.

The only daughter of John and Linda Don-Duncan and sister of Robert, of Langholm Road, Helen is ranked fifth in the world and has been national champion for four consecutive years in her class, while a glance at her swimming 'cv' confirms an impeccable pedigree.

For she won a bronze 'gong' in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur; a silver in the world championships in Hong Kong in 1999; was fourth in a similar event in Athens in April, and scooped a gold medal in the 100/200m races at the Scottish National competition in Glasgow last month By way of diversion from swimming _ after first taking the plunge at the age of ten _ Helen is a tuneful euphoniumist with Pemberton Youth Band, and is set to go to Coventry University in October to study for a degree in sports science.

But before then it's all systems go for Helen as she immerses herself in last-minute preparations for the Sydney Olympics - and if dedication and fitness are the pre-requisites another 'gold' could soon be on its way to leafy Garswood.