POOLE butterfly ace Jacob Peters and coach Barry Alldrick received some tips from the top when five-time world champion James Hickman came to town.

Peters, 15, who has broken British junior and age group records as well as 40 Dorset records in the past year, spent an hour and a half with the triple Olympian at a Westbourne coffee shop.

Hickman, who was visiting relatives at Branksome, shared stories and experiences from his international career including training and motivational tips and an account of the three weeks he spent training in the United States with 18-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps.

He told the Echo: “I hope it inspires them to greatness. Jacob is doing times at 15 that I was doing at 17. I’ll be looking out for him in the future.”

Poole head coach Alldrick said: “It was brilliant and inspiring and particularly interesting to hear how James used to set challenges for himself.

“It has already benefited Jacob. He is setting challenges for himself in training and has set his goals a bit higher.”

Peters, who is already following in Hickman’s footsteps as a British junior butterfly champion, said: “I learned quite a lot from James, such as how to make working hard more enjoyable with challenges.

“It has motivated me, inspired me, made me more focused and reassured me this is what I want to do.”

Peters’s next big competition is July’s British Summer Championships in Sheffield, an event in which he won a gold and two silver medals last year.

Hickman, from Manchester, swam in the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Olympic Games, reaching one final and several semi-finals.

But he is best-known for his unique record of winning the 200m butterfly at five consecutive World Short Course Championships between 1997 and 2004.

He also won one Commonwealth and five European titles and twice held the world record for the short-course 200m butterfly.

He is now global sports marketing manager for swimwear company Speedo.