A one-two for Williams and Greenbank as Britain secure four finals places

A one-two finish for Britain’s Brodie Williams and Luke Greenbank saw the pair book their lanes for tomorrow’s Men’s 200m Backstroke final on day five of the FINA World Championships in Hungary.

Williams set himself a new personal best to win the first Semi-Final with a 1:56:10 with Greenbank just behind with a 1:56:42.

The pair were clear of the field in their semi-final with Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov finishing third, nearly a second off Williams in 1:57:08.

Williams and Greenbank will go into the final as the second and third fastest qualifiers after America’s Ryan Murphy set a 1:55:43 to go fastest of all in the second semi-final.

The two British swimmers both improved by nearly a second on their time from the heats in the morning session and will be confident after their display.

On the result, Williams said: “It’s just what we’ve been practising in training.

“The semi-final was about 95 per cent effort, I did lay down a marker there but I still think there’s more in the tank, I just need to push that first 100m a bit more.

“Luke went through a similar stage that I went through, that’s my first PB in about three years, so I did ask him for advice on that.

“He’s one hell of an athlete, and it’s a pleasure to be representing Great Britain with him.”

Greenbank was proud of his own and his teammates performance adding: “It’s a season’s best, I can’t complain with that.

“I have to go away, rest, relax, look at the race and where we can improve and then come back ready for the final.

“It’s the first time I’ve had a Brit in the final with me, so I’m really looking forward to that. He did amazingly, and hopefully we can push each other on in the final tomorrow as well.”

Renshaw and Wood both make 200m Breastroke final

Both Molly Renshaw and Abbie Wood also enjoyed success as they qualified for the Women’s 200m Breastroke final in Budapest.

An impressive swim from the British pair saw Renshaw qualify in sixth place overall with Wood just behind her in seventh.

Both Brits took part in the second semi-final with Renshaw taking the lead early on after an excellent opening turn.

The 26-year old Renshaw went off strongly but Wood joined her teammate to make it a British one-two at the halfway point.

The fast start looked to catch up to the pair a little towards the end but they battled strongly to finish third and fourth respectively in their semi-final to secure their final places.

Renshaw finished with a time of 2:24:06 with Wood setting a 2:24:46.

The pair will be back in the pool tomorrow for the final.

Lifetime best for Dean in fifth place finish

Great Britain’s Tom Dean set himself a new lifetime best in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley final.

After winning Britain’s only medal of the Championships so far, Dean impressed again to set a new personal best with a 1:56:77 to finish fifth in the final.

Dean improved his time in the opening Butterfly leg before a comfortable backstroke and breastroke legs set him up ahead of his favoured freestyle.

The double Olympic Champion finished incredibly strongly with a 27:54 final leg, the fastest in the race, to improve on his semi-final time by 0:61.

On his performance Dean said: “I knew I was on good form coming into this week.

“I went 1:57-low at the trials, so a 1:56-mid or high is the next logical step.

“I was able to do it tonight, but I think I’m feeling all of those seven races I’ve done so far now.

“My plan was to work the freestyle leg on this swim here.

“Dave (McNulty – Dean’s Coach) said, coming into this one that as an Olympic champion on the 200m Freestyle, you’re going to have a strong freestyle leg and have to use that to your advantage.

“I paced it probably slightly better than my 200m Free, but it’s all part of the learnings of the event and is always nice to have a strong finish.”

The swim saw Dean finish just 1:55 off the France’s Leon Marchand who took gold in the event.

Harris continues to impress

Medi Harris continued her fine World Championships debut with a seventh place finish in the Women’s 50m Backstroke final.

Harris moved herself up a spot after making the final through a swim off after being the joint eighth fastest qualifier.

It was another strong swim from the Swansea University swimmer who had to take to the pool three times yesterday to touch home in a time of 27:72.

The time was slightly slower than her personal best of a 27.56 that she set yesterday but was enough to make her the seventh fastest in the world and was less than half a second off eventual champion Kylie Masse of Canada (27:31).

Seventh for Burras

Lewis Burras couldn’t repeat his British record swim in yesterday’s semi-final in the Men’s 100m Freestyle final as he finished in seventh place.

In a cagey final, Burras started off well and was just 0.10 down on his incredible record swim after the first 50m.

He touched home with a still impressive 48:23, just 0.65 off Romania’s David Popovici who took home the gold.

Burras continued his successful meet where he’s broken two British records in both this event and as part of the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay on day two of the competition.

Hopkin and Anderson just miss out on final

Britain’s Anna Hopkin and Freya Anderson both narrowly missed out on a spot in the final in the Women’s 100m Freestyle.

Hopkin was closest with a time of 53:92 to finish ninth overall, just one spot off of a place in the final.

The Loughborough National Centre swimmer got off the blocks quickly in her semi-final and was third at the turn.

She battled hard in the second 50m but just dropped to fifth despite improving on her 54:08 time that she set in the heats this morning.

As for Anderson, she also just fell short, finishing 12^th overall.

The Bath swimmer was sixth place in the second semi-final with a time of 54:19, a slight improvement on her 54.40 from the heats in the morning session.

So close for Wilby

Loughborough National Centre’s James Wilby just missed out on a place in the final in the Men’s 200m Breastroke.

Wilby went off quickly in his semi-final and was third after the first 100m, 0.44 off of Sweden’s Erik Persson who led at the halfway stage.

The 28-year old couldn’t quite hold onto that pace however and dropped to sixth despite finishing with a time of 2:09:85 that was over 1.5 seconds faster than his time in the heats.

The time saw him finish tenth fastest overall, an agonising 0.17 off making the final.