Hannah Miley claimed the fifth World Short Course Championship medal of her career and third bronze on an opening night that saw fellow Brit Adam Peaty send further records tumbling.
Miley became Britain’s first finalist in Doha after qualifying out of the 400m medley heats in third place and that was where she stayed to take bronze following a high-quality final.
The 25-year-old surrendered the title she won in Istanbul in 2012 to Spaniard Mireia Garcia Belmonte, who clocked a new world and Championship record of 4:19.86 minutes.
That upset favourite and previous holder Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who was 3.08 seconds behind in second while Miley took bronze and a fifth world short course medal a further 1.80 back.
And Britain have a very real chance of adding to their medal tally on the second evening, and even adding a first gold, following Peaty’s sensational swim in the 100m breaststroke semi-finals.
The 19-year-old two-time Commonwealth and four-time European champion from this year set a new Championship record of 56.43 to qualify as the fastest into the final.
Peaty had broken the British record during the morning heats and was exactly half a second quicker than the next best qualifier for the final in Doha, Kirill Prigoda of Russia.
Backstroke specialist Georgia Davies is also in with a shout of medal after qualifying for the 100m final in fourth place but there was no such luck for Britain’s three other semi-final swimmers.
Sophie Taylor in the 50m breaststroke, Chris Walker-Hebborn in the men’s 100m backstroke and Adam Barrett in the 100m butterfly all failed to make it into their respective finals.
© Sportsbeat 2014