FOR world champion James Guy, the pressure is firmly off as he goes for gold at the Commonwealth Games.

The Bury swimmer claimed a gold medal at last year’s World Championships after becoming a double silver medallist at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Despite his meteoric rise in the sport, the 22-year-old is more relaxed than ever as he prepares for the Gold Coast with Team England at their holding camp in Brisbane.

“I feel great in the pool and I’ve been doing some great sessions,” said the man who was born and brought up in Bury before leaving the family home to go to boarding school at 12 years old.

“The numbers are all there – I’m the lowest I’ve ever been body weight-wise, my skinfold’s really low, I’m strong.

“I’m excited to see what I can do, but there is no pressure at all. For me now, the way I work best is when I’m more relaxed and chilled.

“I race better when I am not really caring about what I need to do, so if I have that mentality again, then hopefully I can put on a good show and go as fast as I can, if not faster.”

Guy will be swimming several races on the Gold Coast – the 100m and 200m butterfly, the 200m and 400m freestyle and the 4x100m and 4x200m relays.

Supporting him will be his girlfriend and family, who have flown out to watch him race.

“It’s going to be a couple of days of hard racing but it’s this moment right now where I swim as fast as I can,” he said.

“My family are coming out, which will be brilliant, but at home it’s been quite quiet, to be honest.

“With the Winter Olympics it’s been quite low-key – and I kind of like that.

“There’s not much hype, and when you come down here, do the business and go back home the hype’s really high, so that’s probably the better thing for me.

“Hopefully I can do my family and the North West proud as well.”

If Guy swims his way to a podium, it will be Team England’s reworked version of the Jerusalem anthem playing through the speakers.

It was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road studios by England long jumper Jazmin Sawyers and Tokio Myers, who won Britain’s Got Talent in 2017.

“If I did make the podium, if I did get a gold medal, then singing that would be fantastic,” he said.

“To make my family and my girlfriend proud would be a really emotional moment.

“Hard work does pay off, and if I could do it for Team England it would be spectacular.”

npower is the Official Partner of Team England and is giving our athletes the power of support by recording a brand new version of their anthem, Jerusalem. To listen to the track visit npower.com/teamengland