MICHELLE SMITH steps up her preparations this weekend for a possible attempt at defending her European Championship titles in August. The triple Olympic gold medallist will be competing at a Dutch swimming federation international long-course meet in Charleroi, Belgium, on Saturday and Sunday.

The meet will be part of a concentrated long-course stint devised by her coach and husband Erik de Bruin.

"I will be staying on for a week's long-course training and will round this off by competing in a similar international meet in Bruges on May 25th and 26th," Smith said.

Smith has yet to decide whether or pot she will compete in the European Championships in Seville (August 19th-23rd). However, she is happy with the way training has been going for her at the local pool in Kilkenny where she lives.

"I did five hours per day last week. At present I am doing a lot of distance work to get my fitness levels built up and from now on, I will be doing more quality work."

Significantly, Smith includes the 1,500 metres among the five events she will compete in this weekend. She also goes in the 50 and 100 metres freestyle, 100 metres backstroke and 200 metres butterfly. Special interest will be focused on her performance in the latter event.

The Charleroi meet has attracted other internationally-known swimmers. "Sandra Volker from Germany is going to be in the 100 freestyle, but I don't think I will be a threat to her anyway, said Smith.

Smith's Atlanta team mate Nick O'Hare, who received £3,000 in the Government's high-performance grant hand-out last week, and Michael Giles, who received £1,000, intend to sharpen up on the long-course circuit as well.

The champion duo are booked for a number of events in Europe, starting in Monte Carlo next week. Both Irish champions are anxious to acquire as much long-course competition as they can and attain European Championship qualifying marks.