Breaststroke queen Leisel Jones remains upbeat about her Olympic prospects despite performing well below her best at the NSW swimming championships.

Jones, who is targeting a place on her fourth Olympic team, finished seventh in the 100m breaststroke final on Friday and described her swim of 1 minute and 9.00 seconds as “possibly one of the worst swims in my career.”

She finished fourth in the heats of the 200m breaststroke in a time almost 10 seconds slower than her Australian record on Saturday before opting not to swim in the finals or Sunday’s 50m heats.

The reigning Olympic 100m champion revealed she had been suffering an ear infection and was exhausted from a heavy training schedule ahead of next month’s Olympic trials in Adelaide but admitted her performance was “not ideal”.

“I’m just really tired,” Jones said after the 100m final.

“Now’s not our focus, we’re really focused on five weeks time.

“We’ll probably get a full three-week taper in so it’s pretty good to be tired now, get the ear infection out of the way now and get all the bad swims out now.”

Jones faces a huge task to turn the tables on American rival and hot London favourite Rebecca Soni, who has had her measure in recent years.

Soni made an early statement with a strong 1:06.88 swim in Austin in January but Jones was confident about her hopes of defending her Olympic gold.

“I’m super confident about the year ahead,” Jones said.

“I’ve done a lot of good work, a lot of good training.

“… I feel fitter than what I was, more confident, more relaxed.

“You chuck a 1:09 in there, it’s not ideal, but it’s part of the road.”