Lisa Chapman has been selected to represent Great Britain in the European Championships.

She secured her place on the plane to Austria in December with a series of record-breaking swims at the British Short Course Championships in Manchester.

Chapman, who lives in Flimwell, East Sussex, set a British best of 26.55m in the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly before going on to take the title in 26.68sec, beating fellow Olympian Rosalind Brett (26.77sec) and Canada's Audrey Lacroix (27.18sec).

She set an English record in the 100m individual medley (1min.0.94sec) and relegated Olympic team-mate Alison Sheppard (1min.01.82sec), the British record holder, into second place.

The former Hastings Seagull club member, who represented Great Britain at the Athens Olympics, was also runner-up in the 50m freestyle to Sheppard (24.33sec).

She said: "I was delighted to maintain my form after the Olympics. I surprised myself. I wasn't expecting to go that fast after peaking for Athens.

"It was quite a contrast. In Athens I swam in an outdoor pool in front of millions of people.

"But it just shows how far I've come since returning to swimming last year."

Lisa believes selection for the European Championships is the first step to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

She said: "Having tasted what the Olympics are like, I want more. And the next time I want to compete in an individual event as well as the relay.

Lisa believes her late father John, who died in June, would have been proud of her display in Athens. She swam the anchor leg of the 4x100m freestyle final after replacing Sheppard and brought the team home in sixth place.

She said: "I looked alongside me while I waited to dive in and there were swimmers who had finished in the top five in individual events and I knew my time might be slower than any of them.

"But I wasn't nervous and, although I lost a place, it didn't matter. I did the best I could and I'm sure dad would have been proud. It was an amazing experience. I think they decided to put me last as Alison hadn't swum as fast as they'd hoped in the heats and I was swimming faster in practice."

Lisa's family were not in Athens to cheer Lisa on.

Lisa said: "I wasn't sure whether I'd get a swim so I had a chat with my mum, Jill, and we decided it wasn't worth the expense and the disruption to the business she has had to run on her own since my dad passed on.

"Mum screamed at the television with other members of my family. They were chuffed."

Lisa opted to miss the closing ceremony after flying home early. She said: "After the stress and excitement I've been through in the past few months I just wanted to be with my family."

Richard Salt (Shiverers, Hove) won a gold medal in Manchester.

The freestyler, based at the University of Bath, anchored his west country team to a British record-breaking victory in the 4x100m individual medley relay (3min.35.44sec).

He overturned a 0.8sec deficit against Stockport who included Olympians Stephen Parry, James Goddard and Adrian Turner.

Salt said: "I was able to overtake their rookie, Simon Birch, and win it for the team by six-hundreths of a second."