Distance swimmer David Davies has conquered a gruelling open water challenge in Cape Town, winning his first event outside pool conditions.
The 1500m pool event will be Welshman Davies' main focus at this summer's Beijing Games but he might enter the inaugural Olympic 10km open water swim.
That will depend partly on his performance at Seville in May.
"Should I make the grade the possibility of competing in the 10km (at Beijing) will be high," he said.
The Commonwealth 1500m champion was one of eight British swimmers to race at the South Africa National Open Water Championships at the Ashanti Dam.
University of Bath's Alan Bircher took silver behind Davies with a strong performance and will join Davies in Seville for the World Open Water Championships.
Davies took the win at 1:53:58.00 with Bircher touching home in 1:55:06.00.
"My rhythm was good through the race," said Davies who said his tactic had been to go out hard and try to establish an early lead.
"I felt good in the final lap and to cross the finish line when I had managed to pull away from the pack earlier in the race was a great feeling."
A top ten finish in Seville would qualify Davies and Bircher for the 10km event in Bejing.
Davies is among the favourites to take 1500m freestyle gold at Beijing this August as the 22-year-old from Barry hopes to better the bronze he won at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
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In the women's event in Cape Town, Keri-Anne Payne took the gold medal, finishing in 2:05:43.00 with Stockport Metro team-mate Cassie Patten coming third with a time of 2:05:51.00.
The two women will also now go on to compete in Spain.
Head Coach Sean Kelly said he was extremely impressed with the performances.
"Britain's strength in open water swimming is growing and results are extremely promising," Kelly added.
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