Jackson, who is scheduled to participate in an Olympic qualifier next month in Durban, South Africa, where a cream of the continents top swimmers, would take the opportunity to battle for an Olympic slot.

According to Jackson, he was working hard to improve his time ahead of the competition, adding that his major target for the year was to qualify for the Olympic.

He said "I am preparing to battle the best for the limited Olympic slot next month. I know it would be very tough looking at the quality of swimmers expected but I am sure of scaling through.

"I have made some good times in recent times especially at the Africa Championship, and i would count on that to achieve my target next month," he added.

Jackson set a new time record in the Men’s 100 LC metres butterfly race to win the gold medal at the 7th African Zone 2 Swimming and Open Water Championship and recorded 53.93 seconds to break the existing mark of 54.60 seconds.