The British Gas swimming team enjoyed a promising morning in the pool as the swimmers toppled one European and two British records as they secured places in three semi-finals.
Elizabeth Simmonds and Gemma Spofforth both booked their places in the 100m Backstroke semi-final after clocking new personal best times in the heats.
Spofforth, who finished in fourth place in the 100m Backstroke Olympic final, has been working on her speed throughout 2009 and this was evident in heat number eleven. Spofforth took the lead early on and set a new Championship record after finishing first in her heat and just missed the world record by 0.01 seconds.
She qualified as the fastest athlete for the semi-final and broke her own European and British record by almost half a second after touching in 58.78.
“I still can’t quite believe that time,” Spofforth said. “When I looked at the time I thought it was 59.78 and then I realised it said 58.78.
“I am amazed, it just felt like a really smooth swim and I hope there’s more in there for tonight.
Olympian Simmonds looked strong in heat number ten and finished in third in a time of 1:00.04 to qualify as the eighth fastest athlete for the semi-final and take half a second off her personal best.
Louise Henley and Lowri Tynan made their World Championship debut in the women’s 100m Breaststroke and as they were both drawn into heat seven it was Tynan that made the most impact.
Tynan won the heat in a new personal best time of 1:08.30 to take 20th overall and miss the semi-final. Henley swam to a time of 1:11.25 and finished in 52nd place.
