Anna Hopkin, Dan Jervis and the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay team all progressed to finals on the penultimate morning of swimming heats at the World Aquatics Championships.
Each of the six British athletes in action delivered professional heats performances to book slots in their respective next rounds, with Loughborough Performance Centre athlete Hopkin getting the ball rolling in the Women’s 50m Freestyle.
Anna cruised into tonight’s semi-finals as the sixth-fastest qualifier, touching second in her race as she looks to build through the rounds and move her times on in this fast-paced event.
Next up was the foursome of Jacob Whittle, Matt Richards, Freya Anderson and Lucy Hope in the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
Fresh from winning his maiden World Championship medal as the second leg of the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team on Thursday evening, Whittle led from the front this time around, opening with a solid two lengths, before handing over to Richards – a heats swimmer in that 4x200m success.
The Bath Performance Centre man kept Britain in line with Australia, Italy and Brazil at the halfway stage of a well-contested heat, with Bath teammate Anderson diving in to take things on.
Anderson’s busy programme to date did not prevent her from swimming strongly and sending Hope in with the GB team within 0.1 seconds of a tightly-bunched front three. University of Stirling competitor Lucy then brought things home well, meaning Britain will line up as the sixth-fastest overall into tonight’s final.
Bringing the curtain down on Friday morning was Dan Jervis in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle final. In the fastest of the heats, Jervis had to hold on after being dropped from the leaders past the halfway stage – but he did what was required to touch in a time that qualified him for Saturday’s finale, his first at a World Championships after a fifth-placed finish at the Olympics last summer.
For full results from the heats, click here.
Visit our ‘What’s On?’ page here for a full rundown on how you can watch and listen to every finals swim from Budapest, as well as a look at which athletes are involved in each upcoming session.