Emma Harvey, one of Bermuda’s standout swimmers is making the most of an ambitious European tour ahead of what she believes will be a landmark summer.

Harvey is competing in Monaco, Canet and Barcelona in just eight days as part of the prestigious Mare Nostrom swim series, which features some of the world’s top swimmers taking each other on a couple of months before the Commonwealth Games.

It has been a busy time for Harvey, who recently won the 50 metres backstroke and finished third in the 100 metres butterfly at a top-level meet in Arizona and she is pleased with her progress a couple of months out from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“To be able to race three different meets in eight days is really unusual and a really cool opportunity,” Harvey said.

“Typically in swimming, you might be racing every three to four weeks, so to be able to race back-to-back-to-back is something else entirely.

“You get to practise things over and over again, the competition is great and the locations are amazing. It’s a very well-known meet in Europe and there's more and more Americans and people training out of the US who are coming here just because it's such a great set-up.”

Harvey has history at this particular meet, securing her qualification time for the 2024 Paris Olympics here two years ago and familiarity with the venues has given her confidence.

“I knew it was going to be a great set-up and I know that I’ve historically swum pretty well here, so that was sort of the mindset coming in,” she said. ”

“It's been really great to come to this meet because there are a lot of Commonwealth Games countries here — people from New Zealand, South Africa, the UK. It's really nice to be able to chat with them, learn about how everyone’s thinking about preparing, and pick up little tidbits from friends you’ve made over the years.

“Because I’m based all the way in LA, I also wanted to take the opportunity to experiment a bit with the time difference. “How early do I want to be getting to Glasgow? How does the time difference affect me? Do I feel best five or six days after travelling or do I feel best immediately after travelling?

“That was also a big part of the thought process with a lot of it seen as preparation for later in the year.”

Harvey’s European adventure means that she will miss Bermuda’s Long-Course National Championships this weekend, one of a number of the island’s best swimmers to bypass the event.

“I love nationals and it was pretty sad to miss it,” she said. “The last couple of years have gone really well, so I’m sad not to be there but I'm sure everyone else will do really well.

“If it had fallen on a different weekend then I would definitely have come and if it had been the weekend after, I would 100 per cent have done it, but it just didn’t work out in the schedule this year.

“I’m also waiting for my US green card to allow me to train there long term and it was much easier to get a travel exception to come to Europe than it would have been to go home for nationals. That was the thinking process as to why I ended up choosing this over coming home.”

Harvey is joined by Madelyn Moore, Elijah Daley and his sister Elan Daley in missing the national championships. Elan Daley has recently rejoined the Bermuda swimming fold and Harvey is excited to have some competition and some company at major Games in the future.

“Elan is absolutely lovely and I’m really excited that she's decided to come back to represent Bermuda,” Harvey said.

“It's only going to help all of us. It's hard when you start viewing everyone as competition and I think the best way to look at it is always just the more the merrier and it will all push us to be better.

“It gives us great opportunities to go to Commonwealth Games and Pan Ams and maybe have a really great relay, which is always really exciting. It put a big smile on my face when I heard she would be representing Bermuda later this summer.”

With Glasgow approaching, Harvey is feeling confident that she has the building blocks in place to perform well.

“The last month or so is really when I started racing a lot and that’s been really good to see where I'm at,” she said.

“I’m really pleased with how I’ve progressed and I’m really, really excited, so I think it’s going to be great. I feel very confident in my preparation, so I have a really good feeling going into a big year like this, which is always fun.”