Glasgow 2014: Jamieson through to swimming final

HOME favourite Michael Jamieson is safely through to tonight’s final of the men’s 200-metres breaststroke at Tollcross, but he could only qualify second-fastest behind Scotland team-mate Ross Murdoch.

Michael Jamieson competes in the Men's 200m Breaststroke Heat 3 at Tollcross International Swimming Centre. Picture: Getty

Those two and Calum Tait made it a 1-2-3 for the home team in their heat, with Murdoch breaking the Commonwealth Games record set just minutes earlier by Andrew Willis of England. The three Scots all appeared to have something to spare as they finished virtually neck to neck, but Willis should also swim significantly faster this evening.

“II was really nervous the last couple of days,” Jamieson said. “I think at the start of this week I was getting worse and worse in the water and tightening up, and just letting the nerves get the better of me.

“But I feel a lot better after that, and I think that will just flush everything out. I’m just going to chill out now because I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.”

Scotland’s other main medal hope on the first day of swimming, Hannah Miley, also qualified comfortably for her final, getting the meeting off to a great start by setting a new Games record in the 400m individual medley. The 2010 champion trailed Emily Overholt for the first half of the race, with the Canadian being inside world-record schedule for a time. But Miley made her move on the breaststroke leg then stayed in command on the freestyle to finish comfortably clear of the field. The Scot’s main rival, Aimee Willmott of England, won the second heat in a slightly slower time.

Stephen Milne swam a new personal best - by three and a half seconds - in qualifying for the final of the 400m freestyle, winning his heat ahead of two other Scots, Dan Wallace and Robbie Renwick, for whom this is a secondary event to the 200m. The latter two are also through to tonight’s final, but the favourite is Australia’s David McKeon, who qualified fastest.

In the men’s 100m backstroke, Craig McNally and Ryan Bennett are through to the semi-finals. Caitlin McClatchey, the winner of two gold medals in Melbourne eight years ago, just missed out on the final of the women’s 200m freestyle, and saw her Games record from 2006 broken by three rivals.