Swimming star Alex Cohoon arrives in Paris tomorrow as he prepares for the biggest day in his young sporting life.

The 21-year-old from Fairford is part of Great Britain’s 4x100 metres freestyle relay team who will be going for gold at this year’s Olympic Games.

The heats and final all take place on Saturday and Cohoon, who used to compete for Cirencester Swimming Club, is excited to be performing on the biggest stage in world sport.

“I’m really good,” he told The Local Answer.

It’s been a whirlwind few months for Cohoon since qualifying for his first Olympics at the beginning of April but it’s fair to say he is enjoying every minute.

One of the highlights was when he was given his Team GB kit and he said:  “That was such a proud moment when I put the kit on, a sense that all the hard work has paid off.

“I can go out and represent not just England but the whole of Great Britain and be really proud of myself.”

He certainly can and he won’t be short of support when he takes centre stage alongside relay team-mates Duncan Scott, Matt Richards and Tom Dean in five days’ time.

His parents, Craig and Jane, and his brother Tom will all be cheering him on in the French capital and Cohoon, who is targeting a medal of any colour, added: “A few of my mates, my brother’s mates and some other close families are also heading out on Thursday or Friday before the Saturday that we race, so that will be really exciting.

“I won’t be able to see them in person  because of the village security but to look at them in the stands when I’m warming up and swimming will be really surreal, it’s a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

The heats get under way at 10am with the final taking place at 8.44pm.

And the preparations have certainly been meticulous because Cohoon, a student at Loughborough University, has spent the last few days in Reims, a city 80 miles north-east of Paris.

“We touched down in Reims last Wednesday on a prep holding camp before we go to Paris,” he said.

“The hotel in Reims is unbelievable, it has everything we need, it’s like a dream.”