Hannah Miley will lead Britain’s medal charge on the opening night of the World Short Course Championships in Doha as in-form Adam Peaty impressed during the first morning session.
The 25-year-old, a four-time world short course medallist, qualified for the 400m medley final in third place after clocking 4:27.45 minutes in her heat won by Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain.
Double world short course champion Katinka Hosszu is the swimmer to beat though having lowered Miley’s Championship record by over two seconds with a time of 4:21.05 from the third and final heat.
Miley is the defending champion though and Britain’s first finalist in Doha while there will also be five semi-finalists on the opening evening with Peaty already in red-hot form after a single swim.
Peaty, a two-time Commonwealth and four-time European champion already this year, set a new British record of 57.02 seconds in qualifying for the 100m breaststroke semi-finals as the fastest.
Fellow double Commonwealth champion Chris Walker-Hebborn also progressed out of the heats in the 100m backstroke as did Georgia Davies in the women’s event while Adam Barrett was successful in the 100m butterfly.
Commonwealth 100m breaststroke gold medallist Sophie Taylor completed the quintet of British semi-finalists in the 50m, an event in which Miley warmed up for her 400m medley but failed to advance, while James Guy and Barrett were unsuccessful in the 200m freestyle.
© Sportsbeat 2014