Double Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European medallist, Jazz Carlin, has been announced as a Royal Life Saving Society UK Ambassador.

The freestyle swimmer will join the charity to back, promote and develop its fast growing open water offering where safety is a priority. She will also aim to inspire a new generation of young people to discover Lifesaving as a sport.

And, as the Drowning Prevention Charity, RLSS UK is thrilled at Jazz’s move into open water and enthusiasm for the sport, whilst also supporting its aim to save lives and prevent unnecessary drownings.

RLSS UK CEO, Di Steer, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Jazz as an ambassador and we believe she will be a real asset and inspiration to people, helping us to raise awareness of all of the work we do.

“Jazz’s fantastic achievements to date, and I’m sure in the future, make her a perfect ambassador for us. We would like to thank her for her support and wish her luck as she heads towards her Tokyo goal.”

Jazz, who bagged two silver medals at the Rio Olympics, added: “It is an honour and a privilege to become an ambassador for such a great charity.”

“I was so impressed by the variety of work they do, in all areas of water safety and education and was also shocked by some of the dreadful and upsetting drowning tragedies and statistics.

“I am looking forward to doing what I can to encourage participation in open water swimming, highlighting the importance that this is done in a safe environment. I wasn’t able to participate in many open water events pre Rio 2016 but I absolutely love taking part in them and will be looking to include more in my schedule moving forward. I can’t wait to get stuck in!”

RLSS UK works in all areas of promoting safe open water swimming and aims to work with various partners and governments at local and national levels to increase the number of safe sites across the UK.

The charity has also partnered with British Triathlon launching a joint SH2OUT initiative aiming to improve and standardise open water swimming venues across the country. RLSS UK also holds regular open water festivals to encourage people of all levels to enjoy the sport and has also created a bespoke Open Water Lifeguard qualification to ensure lifeguards have the best possible training when keeping people safe.

Di added: “We are dedicated to improve access to open water, making people have a positive and safe experience and will soon have some exciting announcements about what’s coming next. With this, along with a lot of Lifesaving Sport activity, we look forward to a great relationship with Jazz.”

Follow Jazz on Twitter and Instagram – @JazzCarlin