JACOB Peters and Alice Tai say they cannot wait for the action to start as they prepare to make their Commonwealth Games debuts in Australia next month.

The Dorset duo join their England team-mates at Heathrow tomorrow before flying to the Gold Coast on Friday.

The 39-strong England team will train at Brisbane for a few days before travelling to the Games site at the beginning of April.

The Games have major significance for both Peters and Tai.

Peters, 17, who’ll be trying to squeeze in some A level revision Down Under, will be making his senior international debut after reaching world junior finals last year.

Tai, 19, already a Paralympic and world and European para-swimming medallist, will be in a mixed able-bodied and disability team for the first time.

“For me, being on a Commonwealth Games team is a lot more exciting than worlds and Europeans because it’s a mix of sports and of able-bodied and para-sport together,” she said.

“It’s also exciting to have new team-mates. I’ve been on the British para-swimming team for four years now, which is great, but it’s exciting to meet new people.”

Tai, from New Milton, currently trains at British Para-swimming’s performance centre in Manchester but still represents Bournemouth Collegiate School competitively.

She is favourite to win the S9 100m backstroke in which she is world record holder and second favourite behind Australia’s Ellie Cole in the 100m freestyle.

“On paper I should win gold and silver but training has been going well so it’s possible I could get two golds depending on how I swim on the day,” she said.

Poole SC’s Peters, British 17yrs age group record holder for the 100m and 200m butterfly, said: “I’m really excited. I can’t wait to be there and start racing.

“I may get a bit nervous before my races but that’s quite natural. The idea is to use the nervous energy positively.”

Peters, who has won his first English and British senior titles over the last four months, qualified for the England team in the 200m butterfly but will also swim the 50m and 100m.

He is ranked eighth for the 200m so should be contesting a place in the eight-lane final.

His events will be among the most competitive in the programme with opponents who include Olympic gold medallists Chad le Clos of South Africa and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling and England team-mates Ben Proud and James Guy, present and former world champions respectively.

A good swim in the 100m fly would put Peters in the frame for a place in a medley relay squad that will also include breaststroke world-beater Adam Peaty, England’s trump card.

The Games schedule means Peters could conceivably be in action on all six days of the swimming programme.

The Poole Grammar School sixth-former will then turn his focus to A level maths, physics and biology exams in June before heading for the European Juniors Championships in early July.

The Commonwealth Games swimming runs from April 5-10.