THREE East Lancashire swimmers will be aiming for medals in the British Championships this week.

Daniel Sliwinski, Ryan Bennett and Josh Walsh are all in action at the event in Sheffield which starts today.

The highly-rated Sliwinski, who hails from Preston but trained in Blackburn, will be looking to add to his medal haul in the 50m breaststroke.

The 23-year-old is a World Youth Championships gold medallist and a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the relay.

He had been selected for the London 2012 Olympic team in the 100m breaststroke but had to pull out injured.

Sliwinski, who represented the elite Lancashire team Gallica who trained at Shadsworth, has the third quickest time of the 41 men competing in the 50m breaststroke this week.

He gets his campaign under way in this morning’s session.

Brinscall’s Bennett is another who opens his campaign this morning in the 200m backstroke. He is also competing in the 100m backstroke which begins on Saturday.

Bennett finished fourth in the 100m freestyle at last year’s Olympic trials, narrowly missing out on a place in the squad for London.

The 22-year-old has the third fastest time of the 21 qualifiers in the 100m, but will face a tough fight against three-time world champion Liam Tancock.

Blackburn’s Walsh, 20, will be competing in three events at Ponds Forge, the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle.

His best chance of success comes in the 200m, for which he is ranked sixth fastest in the field.

Walsh begins his 400m campaign this morning before beginning the 200m freestyle heats tomorrow and the 100m freestyle heats on Saturday morning.