PORTLAND swimming star Jay Lelliott delivered an impressive podium performance in the International Swimming League in Budapest.

Competing for Toronto Titans in swimming’s all-star event, the Dorset ace came up against the likes of former Olympic champion Chad le Clos.

Lelliott, who is now based in the UK with the City of Sheffield Swim Squad, set a searing pace in his events.

Lelliott shared the pool with South African legend le Clos, who won 200m butterfly gold at London 2012, in his first event.

Le Clos duly blew the field away to claim top spot by a whopping 1.46 seconds in the 200m butterfly.

But Lelliott also excelled, coming within 0.1 seconds of a personal best and Sheffield club record in finishing fifth, just 0.58 seconds off the medals.

Lelliott switched his attentions to the 200m backstroke and set a new club record with a fifth-placed finish behind Russian winner Evgeny Rylov, who won Rio 2016 bronze in this event.

Saving his best result until last, Lelliott stormed to third place in the final 200m butterfly race, narrowly missing out on a personal best.

Speaking on the Propulsion Swimming podcast, Lelliott admitted he is enjoying the rapid format of the ISL.

He said: “I’m feeling really good. I’ve done three rounds in total now.

“It’s two days on, two days off so I’ll be racing six days out of 10.

“It’s good though. If you make mistakes, normally you’ve got to wait a month or a few weeks to put it right.

“Whereas now, you’re straight back into that environment and you’re forced to do it better – you have another chance.

“It gives you a chance to experiment on more things. Every round I’m getting quicker and I’m enjoying that aspect of it.”