Day seven of the swimming saw Fran Halsall swim a fantastic final of the Women's 100m freestyle, Lizzie Simmonds progress through to the final of the 200m backstroke.
The first semi-final of the day with a Team GB swimmer was the Women's 200m backstroke, which saw Lizzie Simmonds, qualifying for tomorrow's final in seventh place in 2:08.96, in her preferred event. "It was tough getting up for that race after last night but I couldn't be happier with how it went. I've made an Olympic final. Its the stuff you dream of. Anything can happen now, there are some tough girls in there so we'll have to see. I'm very excited," said Simmonds.
Gemma Spofforth, who just missed out on a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke, set a new personal best of 2:09.19 in the 200m backstroke, finishing ninth overall and narrowly missing out on the final. "My mind was more focused on my swim today. I went out and enjoyed it. I love swimming, love the atmosphere and love being here," said Spofforth.
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe looked strong, qualifying for tomorrow's final fastest in 2:07.76, with Elizabeth Biesel (USA) second fastest in 2:07.90 and Meagan Nay (AUS) third in 2:08.09.
The battle for the medals in the Women's 100m Freestyle final was as close as expected after the qualifiers from the semi-finals were only split by four tenths of a second. It was a fascinating battle between Britta Steffan (GER) and world record holder, Lisbeth Trickett (AUS), with Steffan touching ahead of Trickett in 53.12. Trickett finished in 53.16 with Natalie Coughlin (USA) in third in 53.39.
In the Women's 200m Breaststroke final, world champion and world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia faced stiff competition from Rebecca Soni (USA). Soni, swimming in her first major championships pulled away from Jones in the last 50m to win by two seconds in a new Olympic record of 2:20.22. Jones finished second, 1.83 seconds behind Soni in 2:22.05 with Sara Nordenstam (Norway) claiming the bronze medal with a new European record in 2:23.02.
Tonight the final session of heats in the swimming will see Fran Halsall compete in the Women's 50m freestyle, and the Women's 4x100 Medley relay teams.
