Proud fifth in Fly sprint showdown

Day two of the swimming action in Singapore saw the first British individual finals action with Ben Proud and Abbie Wood having secured their lanes the previous night.

Proud entered into the Men’s 50m Butterfly with a fresh British record under his belt, and the 2017 world champion remained relaxed as he approached the blocks for the event which he attributes as being a formative love in his swimming career.

In the one length shoot-out, Proud was fifth to the wall – just five hundredths outside his national mark and a mere 0.12 seconds off the podium overall.

Speaking with huge respect for the calibre of competition in his race, Proud commented:

“I mean if you look at that swim I don’t think there is any world that I would have been competitive against those top guys [tonight], you know all I was trying to do was stay up there as best I can and sometimes medals just come to you that way but this evening all top three guys just stepped on fantastically and it was an incredibly quick final.

“I mean it’s just small margins, but I’m quite happy with how I’ve dealt with the process of going through these rounds and I can now switch off and relax a bit. Any decision on this event is put aside for the next week and then the summer holidays – I do just love this event and I’m really grateful for the foundations of coaching I’ve had to allow me to be competitive across these years.”

The closing final of the night saw Wood stand up on the blocks in lane two of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley. Diving in, the Loughborough Performance Centre swimmer held within touch of the podium places across the opening three strokes but was unable to come back at some fast freestyle finishers over the closing 50m and finished sixth overall.

Meanwhile Oliver Morgan was the first British athlete to secure his place among Tuesday night’s finalists as he progressed from a fast second semi-final of the Men’s 100m Backstroke.

Matching the backend speed of his rivals saw Morgan place fourth in his own qualifier but actually meant the Gary Humpage-coached man progressed through as the fifth fastest seed.

"This morning was just about coming in and getting the job done, then get a bit more emotion involved tonight and make that final - so yeah super happy to be coming back tomorrow night," said Morgan.

"I feeling good, probably the fittest and strongest I've ever been so in a really good place - now it's all about resting up so that when we come in tomorrow night I'm ready to put a good swim together and we'll see what we come away with."

The Men’s 200m Freestyle semi-final featured both James Guy and Matthew Richards following their smooth progression from the morning heats.

Finishing fifth in semi-final one, Guy was reprieved by a slower second semi-final to progress inside the top-eight times - while Olympic silver medallist, Richards, unfortunately missed out in 12th overall and individually turns his attentions next to the Men’s 100m Freestyle.

Stream live free-to-air coverage of the World Aquatics Championships 2025 taking place in Singapore at www.aquaticsgb.com/live.

Monday 28th July Swimming results

Men’s 100m Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – 5th into final, Jonathon Marshall – 19th overall

Women’s 100m Breaststroke: Angharad Evans – 18th overall

Men’s 50m Butterfly: Ben Proud – 5th Overall

Men’s 200m Freestyle: James Guy – 7th into final, Matthew Richards – 12th overall

Women’s 200m Individual Medley: Abbie Wood – 6th overall

Extended results available on the World Aquatics website here.