Olympics: British Swimmers Up the Pace

The unprecedented spate of Olympic records in the pool continued yesterday with Britain's Rebecca Adlington and Joanne Jackson both helping to swamp the record books with startling personal-best swims which raised hopes of at least one GB medal in tomorrow's final of the women's 400m freestyle.

After less than two days of action in the Water Cube it is already clear that high-tech body suits are aiding swimmers of all nationalities but Adlington cut more than two seconds off her previous best and Jackson was 1.58 secs quicker as both went under the long-standing Olympic record set two decades ago by the American Janet Evans.

That record is now in the possession of Italy's world record-holder Federica Pellegrini - who clocked 4:02.19 - but Adlington, Mansfield's finest, was only five-hundredths of a second behind her, comfortably inside Evans' old mark of 4:03.85 and a second and a half faster than the prolific American Katie Hoff. The 22-year-old Jackson, who hails from North Yorkshire, was the fourth-quickest qualifier in a time of 4:03.80.

It is 48 years since a British woman last won an Olympic gold medal and Adlington, in particular, has a fighting chance of matching the achievement of Anita Lonsbrough in the 200m breaststroke in Rome in 1960. There is also cause for optimism in the shape of Liam Tancock whose prospects of a medal were enhanced when he pushed the world record-holder Aaron Peirsol hard in his 100 meter backstroke heat to advance to the semi-finals as the fifth-fastest swimmer in a field which also features the experienced Gregor Tait.

Jemma Lowe, meanwhile, has qualified for the final of the 100 meters butterfly courtesy of a personal best time of 57.78, although Australia's Libby Trickett remains the hot favorite for gold. Gemma Spofforth and Lizzie Simmonds both made the semi-finals of the women's 100 metres backstroke during a remarkable sequence of races in which the existing Olympic record was broken three times. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry eventually lowered the mark to 59 seconds missing out on a world record by just 0.03 seconds. Ross Davenport, meanwhile, booked his place in the semi-finals of the men's 200 freestyle with a swim of 1 min 47.13, narrowly outside his personal best.