Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus has two Olympic gold medals under her belt and in 504 days she aims to collect a third.
After her win over American champion Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the 22-year-old's underdog days are behind her as she looks to Paris 2024.
"There is some very fast swimming at the moment," Titmus told reporters on Friday.
"My races next year are going to be headline events. They're going to be packed full, especially that 400 freestyle.
"I believe that all three women on that podium are going to be well and truly under four minutes and it's going to be a tough battle."
The intensive training for the next Games has begun for Titmus, who is competing in the NSW state championships on Friday, just days after returning from a training camp in Thailand where she swam over 70 kilometres a week.
"It's important to get that work in and then coming into this part of the season get into that really specific training," she said.
"I haven't raced at a high level since the Commonwealth Games so this is the fittest I've been since then."
The intensity of training has come earlier than usual for Titmus and her teammates, as they missed out on key recovery time after the Tokyo Olympics were pushed back to 2021, giving them only three years to train for the next Games.
Titmus said her foot is now firmly on the gas, describing the quicker turnaround as "surreal".
"We've really got to get going now, time flies and Tokyo feels like only yesterday," she said.
Teammate Elijah Winnington said he is in good stead for the turnaround to the Paris Olympics - he failed to win a medal in Tokyo but won the 400m freestyle world title last year.
"It's exactly what I needed leading into such a close turnaround to another Olympic Games," he said.
Pop-star turned swimmer Cody Simpson made his Australian senior debut at last year's Commonwealth Games, winning gold as a heat swimmer in the freestyle relay, and now also his eyes on Paris - though he's unsure what stroke he will focus on.
"The butterfly is sort of what I started with and but there's a lot of fun on the freestyle relays as I was able to experience last year and I'd love to continue that," he said.
After the NSW meet, swimmers turn their attention to the national championships on the Gold Coast in April before selection trials for the world titles in Japan in July.
