South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan returned home from Sydney on Thursday after wrapping up his pre-world championships training camp.

The former Olympic freestyle champion will only spend three days at home before heading out to set up a new camp in Rome on Sunday. He'll train for about a month there before moving to Budapest for the FINA World Aquatics Championships starting on July 23.

It will be Park's first world championships appearance since

2011 in Shanghai, where he won his second 400m freestyle title. His first world title came in 2007 in Melbourne, a year before he won his first and only Olympic gold medal in the 400m free in Beijing.

Park went to Sydney in February to begin his world championships preparations. Then on the first weekend of May, he traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to compete at Arena Pro Swim Series.

Park won three titles there in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle, while meeting FINA's "A" qualifying standards in all distances. He also came within the qualifying time in the 100m freestyle in the heats but chose not to compete in the final.

Park missed the national team trials from May 12-15, but the Korea Swimming Federation said it would recognize times posted by South Korean swimmers in overseas meets between May 7 and 15.

Park will hold a press conference in Seoul on Friday to talk in detail about his preparations, and also to announce his endorsement deal with swimwear brand Arena. (Yonhap)