Britain's Mixed Medley relay team set up final showdown in Gwangju

Great Britain’s 4x100m Mixed Medley relay team are comfortably through to the final at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, qualifying fourth fastest.

The team of Georgia Davies, James Wilby, James Guy and Freya Anderson will fancy their chances of a medal in Gwangju, with Britain the current European champions.

Davies, Guy, Anderson and Adam Peaty all featured as they broke the European record to win gold in Glasgow last year.

Loughborough University’s Georgia Davies got Britain off to a strong start, facing a tough challenge with some teams opening with a male backstroke swimmer.

100m Breaststroke silver medallist James Wilby and 2015 200m Freestyle world champion James Guy helped get the Brits up to second place ahead of the final leg.

Anderson, who swam two personal bests on Tuesday and narrowly missed out on a place in the Women’s 200m Freestyle final, charged home to give the team plenty of confidence heading into the evening’s final.

Anderson touched the wall in 3:43.37, just 0.07s behind heat winners Russia, who qualify third fastest.

Britain finished fifth in an incredible final in this event two years ago, despite claiming a then-European record.

Wilby said: “I’m sure the whole team will step up and I’m proud to do my part this morning to get them through to the final.

“At the end of the day, we’re leaving the morning session and everyone did the job they needed to do, so it’ll be a really exciting one tonight.”

Duo seal semi spots

Tom Dean impressed on his World Championships debut, qualifying for the semi-final of the Men’s 200m Individual Medley.

The National Centre Bath swimmer clocked 1:59.64 to finish fifth in a competitive heat, qualifying him 15th fastest for the evening’s swim.

Almost a second outside his personal best time, Dean is confident he has enough in the tank to challenge for a final place.

He said: “That was good. It’s my first time under two minutes in the morning, but it was a tough heat with some of the best in the world, so I’m very happy.

Dean will race alongside fellow Brit, Duncan Scott, in the second semi-final.

High hopes for British pair

Alys Thomas and Laura Stephens both qualified inside the top eight for the semi-finals of the Women’s 200m Butterfly.

Plymouth Leander’s Stephens was fourth in a rapid second heat, clocking 2:09.03, while Thomas won the fourth heat in 2:08.69.

Stephens said: “I’m really happy. The front end was definitely really strong, but there’s a bit of work to do on the last 50m.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking but I just tried to focus on my own race and not worry about what was going on around me – I just put the blinkers on and got down and did it.”

Photo: British Swimming