Halsall books final spot

The 18-year-old City of Liverpool swimmer's time of 53.94 seconds was just 0.01 secs slower than her performance in Wednesday's heats, when she set a new British record, but it was still enough to earn her a berth in the final as the fifth fastest swimmer.

There was other British success in the pool as Gregor Tait qualified for the 200m backstroke final and James Goddard and Liam Tancock both qualified for the final of the 200m individual medley.

Tait lagged behind joint world record holder Ryan Lochte at the halfway point in his semi but a strong second half of the race pulled the City of Edinburgh swimmer into fourth place in his heat and to a time of 1 min 56.72 secs.

Defending champion Aaron Peirsol set the fastest time in the semi-finals with 1:55.26 just 0.14 secs faster than Lochte with Austria's Markus Rogan in third.

"That was the aim, to make the final," said Tait. "I didn't really think about what time I needed but to go quicker than yesterday is good and it's only a fraction off my best time.

"I have a whole day to rest now. I didn't get that much sleep last night. I keep thinking about random things. I had a dream last night I was getting done for murder. Hopefully it won't come true."

Pieter van den Hoogenband's bid to become the first male swimmer to win three consecutive Olympic titles in the same event came to an end when France's Alain Bernard stormed to victory in the 100m freestyle with a time of 47.21 secs.

China claimed their first gold in the pool as Liu Zige shattered Jessica Schipper's world record in the 200m butterfly to finish ahead of compatriot Jiao Liuyang in a time of 2:04.18.

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima underlined his status as the greatest breaststroke swimmer of all time when he successfully defended his 200m title in an Olympic record time of 2 mins 07.64 while Rebecca Soni and Leisel Jones head the qualifiers for the final of the women's event over the same distance.