COMMONWEALTH Games distance champion David Davies is expected to be fit for next year’s world swimming championships in Melbourne despite pulling out of the European championships because of injury.

The Briton, favourite to win the 1500m freestyle title next month in Budapest, was forced to withdraw from the meet after an injury-affected build up.

The Olympic bronze medal winner and this year’s 1500m Commonwealth champion recently underwent an operation to remove an abscess from his left ankle, which kept the 21-year-old out of the pool for six weeks.

The blood infection which caused the abscess is thought to have been contracted during Davies’s lengthy stay in Australia prior to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

However the infection, which hampered his gold-medal winning swim, was not diagnosed until Davies returned to the UK.

His coach, Dave Haller, told swimnews.com that despite keeping his fitness up with work outside the pool, Davies lost too much training time to compete in the European meet.

Davies was now back in the pool Haller said, and was preparing for March’s world championships, clearing the way for a much-anticipated clash with 1500m world record holder Grant Hackett and American Larsen Jensen.

“It’s been good for him to have a bit of a rest. He’ll bounce back and probably be better for it,” Haller told swimnews.com.

Davies claimed a comfortable victory in the 1500m at the Melbourne Games which two-time Olympic champion Hackett missed following an operation on his right shoulder.