Hannah Miley secures Britain’s first medal in Doha

Hannah Miley, right, celebrates on the podium in Doha. Picture: Getty

The Scot took gold in the event two years ago in Istanbul and won the Commonwealth title in Glasgow this summer but could not compete with Spain’s Mireia Belmonte.

The 24-year-old won gold in a world-record time ahead of previous record holder Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.

It was Belmonte’s second world record of the night, with the Spaniard becoming the first woman to dip under two minutes to take gold in the 200m butterfly.

Miley said afterwards: “I am really pleased. The target was to try to come away with a medal so to come away with a bronze, I am really chuffed with it.

“Last season my short course wasn’t the best but then it worked out pretty well for me in the long course so I didn’t know what to expect from this short-course season.

“I came into it with no real expectations: I know I was going in defending my title but I knew that would be a very tough ask.

“It’s obviously not my fastest swim – I did that two years ago – but, hopefully, it is a step in the right direction for me to progress further in my long-course season next year because that is the main aim.”

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Meanwhile, teenager Adam Peaty broke the British record twice in one day to put himself on course for gold. Peaty, 19, took half a second off Michael Jamieson’s British mark in the heats of the 100 metres breaststroke on the first morning of action.

Returning for the semi-finals in the evening, Peaty bettered his time by more than half a second with a blistering swim of 56.43 seconds, which was a new championships record.

That put him half a second ahead of the rest of the field and less than a second away from Cameron van der Burgh’s world record.

On his ambitions for the final, Peaty said: “Gold – under 56 would be a dream because I’m not really a short-course swimmer.”

The Uttoxeter swimmer, who holds four European titles and two Commonwealth golds and is one of the nominees for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, broke the long-course world record over 50m in August.

There was also a world record for the Dutch women in the 4x200m freestyle relay while South African Chad Le Clos won the first gold of the meeting in the men’s 200m freestyle, with Ryan Lochte having to settle for bronze.

Great Britain’s Georgia Davies qualified for the 100m backstroke final in fourth place but Sophie Taylor, Chris Walker-Hebborn and Adam Barrett were all eliminated in the semi-finals of their events.

South African superstar Chad le Clos took the first gold of the championships in the men’s 200m freestyle final.

Lithuania’s Plymouth-based champion from London 2012 Ruta Meilutyte then set a new championship record of 28.81secs in the women’s 50m breaststroke. She will face Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson in Thursday’s final, but British hopeful Sophie Taylor failed to make it.

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