World champions Adam Peaty and James Guy were among those to impress on the opening night of the British Swimming Championships and there are 11 British boxers into the quarter-finals of the European Olympic Qualifying Event. Here's our review of the last 24 hours:
Triple world champion Adam Peaty admits a weight has been lifted after taking another step closer to his Olympic Games debut with a gold medal-winning performance at the 2016 British Swimming Championships in Glasgow.
Peaty touched the wall in 58.41 seconds in the 100m breaststroke to be crowned British champion and, crucially, dip under the required Olympic qualifying standard.
And with the Olympic team set to be announced in the coming weeks, subject to approval from the British Olympic Association, world record holder Peaty insists he is taking nothing for granted.
“Since September after the Worlds it’s been at the back of my mind that I need to qualify,” the 21-year-old said.
“I can’t complain about that swim. My coach and I have been working on not trying to get the best time at the trials and get the peak performance at the Olympics.
“So the main job here was to qualify and anything under 58.5 I would have been happy with so I am really happy.”
Peaty looks likely to be joined in Brazil by double world champion James Guy after the 20-year-old claimed the 400m freestyle title in a time of 3:43.84.
Guy swept away his opposition, finishing almost three seconds ahead of second-place Stephen Milne to fly to his sixth British gold medal.
Two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Hannah Miley was crowned British champion in the 400m individual medley after her time of 4:33.40 was enough to beat Aimee Willmott and two seconds below the qualifying time needed.
And more good news came in the women’s 200m freestyle as Jazz Carlin romped to victory.
Great Britain have 11 boxers through to the quarter-finals of the European Olympic Qualifying event in Turkey.
It is a crucial competition for the athletes as the top three men and the two leading women in each weight category earn places for their country at this summer’s Rio Olympics.
European champion Joe Cordina impressed in his 60kg win over Miklos Varga of Hungary, while Anthony Fowler (70kg) progressed against Moldova’s Valeri Sirbu.
Fowler, speaking on Twitter, said: “It was a tough fight today but I dug in and got that win, another step closer to my dream of Olympic qualification.”
Cyrus Pattinson (69kg) faced one of the world’s best in Arajik Marutjan of Germany but went on to win unanimously and Joshua Buatsi defeated Spain’s Alejandro Camacho Fernandez at 81kg.
Heavyweight Lawrence Okolie also had to defeat a top fighter in Netherland’s Roy Korving and Qais Ashfaq (56kg) was awarded his fight against Merab Turkadze of Georgia after both men were cut in the second round.
Speaking on Twitter, Okolie said: “Got the win tonight. Hard fight but I dug deep and beat Europe's number four and world number eight. Three more to go. One round at a time.”
The other GB fighters in action today are Galal Yafai (49kg), Muhammed Ali (52kg), Pat McCormack (64kg), Joe Joyce (91kg+) and the sole female representative is reigning Olympic champion Nicola Adams, fighting at 51kg.
Chris Freebury has vowed to come back even stronger at the British Senior Championships in June after finishing 18th at the European Weightlifting Championships.
The 25-year-old snatched 119kg and jerked 138kg in the men’s 69kg competition in Forde, Norway, as he twice missed 142kg.
And, speaking on his Instagram, Freebury said: “Not the best day at the office, I missed a couple of easy weights that I've done in training.
“However, I managed to put 9kg on top of my total from the English Championships six weeks ago. “I’m slightly disappointed given my training of late, but this only gives me more motivation to go back to the drawing board to come back stronger and sharper for the British Senior Championships in June.
“Thanks to all the coaching staff, my teammates and everyone who supported me on my way back to form. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Watch this space.”
His teammate Sarah Davies was left with mixed emotions after she came seventh in the 58kg category.
The 23-year-old was left surprised by how her body reacted as she went from 65kg to 57.6kg in the eight weeks leading up to the competition.
Davies, again on Instagram, said: “I felt so strong going into the competition but unfortunately my body just freaked out and didn't like the refuel post weigh in. I was in so much pain, my stomach expanded and was cramping.
“I am overall happy with the performance. A huge thanks to all the support team for all their help in the weight loss and we couldn't have predicted how my body reacted.”
Andy Murray believes he will need more consistency if he is to find success on clay this season after reaching the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
The British No.1 looked on his way to a comfortable victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert when he won the first set 6-2 but was pegged back to one set all by the French qualifier.
However, Murray responded to win the decider – clinching a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 triumph and setting up a clash with either Benoit Paire or Joao Sousa as he continues his clay-court campaign.
A number of unforced errors cost the 28-year-old the second set and he acknowledges that it was a real rollercoaster affair.
"I expected it to be a tough match from the beginning but in the first set he didn't serve well – I think that he served about 35 per cent first serves," said Murray.
"First serves are a big part of his game because he likes to serve-and-volley or come in behind the second shot but he wasn't able to do that because he didn't serve well.
"Then in the second, he did that a bit better but I was making too many mistakes getting broken a few times.
"I actually served well in the third set and came up with some big first serves when I needed them which was important.
"I played some good tennis at times but I was also a bit up-and-down and you need to be a bit more consistent than that on this surface."
British Athletics have announced the seven athletes who will be taking part in the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in May.
Tom Bosworth, who improved the British 20km walk record by 82 seconds last month, will be joined in the senior men’s team in Rome by 2012 Olympian Dominic King.
Bethan Davies, who set the 3,000m national indoor record a couple of months back, is the sole senior women’s representative at the competition, which takes place on May 7 and 8, and Emma Achurch the only female junior.
And the junior men’s team will head into the competition confident after they took first place at the European Athletics meeting last weekend, while competing for England.
Callum Wilkinson won the competition with a time of 41:33, just two seconds outside the British junior record, and he will be joined by Guy Thomas and Cameron Corbishley.
Sportsbeat 2016