Daniel Wallace was narrowly denied a maiden World Championship medal as he finished an agonising fourth in the 200m Individual Medley on day five of Kazan 2015.
While he has achieved his best international results – including Commonwealth gold at Glasgow 2014 – in the 400m Individual Medley, the 22-year-old was in the medal hunt throughout the final of the shorter event in Russia.
After turning in third with 50m to go, Wallace was ultimately overhauled by Wang Shun in the battle for bronze, touching just 0.78 behind the Chinese swimmer.
But while he couldn’t hide his disappointment at finishing so close to the podium over 200m, Wallace admitted his form sets him in good stead for Sunday’s 400m IM.
“My initial reaction when I saw a four next to my name was heartbreak but looking back on the race, I think I did a great job,” said Wallace, who finished seventh in the 400m IM on his World Championship debut two years ago.
“I was seeded 10th coming into this meet so to finish fourth is obviously a great achievement.
“It’s always hard when you finish that close to the medals but fortunately I have the relay tomorrow and the 400m IM on Sunday.
“There’s loads of good things I can take away from that swim which will help me later in the week. The longer event suits me better overall and hopefully I can bring the same form that I’ve had tonight.”
The British women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay quartet also impressed as they finished fifth, missing out on the podium places by just 1.5 seconds.
Swimming in an outside lane after qualifying seventh fastest for the final, the quartet were on the verge of landing a surprise medal, lying third after opening legs from Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Jazz Carlin and Rebecca Turner respectively.
And while Hannah Miley was ultimately overhauled by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini and Chinese swimmer Shen Duo – both individual 200m Freestyle finalists – on the anchor leg, the Brit brought her team home more than four seconds quicker than their time from the morning heats.
Commonwealth silver medallist Lauren Quigley was the only other British finalist of the night, matching her result from the 100m Backstroke to finish seventh in the 50m Backstroke.
The 20-year-old ultimately touched 0.41 seconds off the podium in the final, improving on her result of eighth from her World Championship debut two years ago.
Andrew Willis booked a spot in the 200m Breaststroke for the third consecutive World Championships.
Having qualified second fastest from the heats, the Commonwealth bronze medallist won his semi-final to progress in fifth overall.
“It felt nice and controlled so I’m really happy with that,” said Willis, who finished fourth at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.
“I just concentrated on my own race and did what I needed to get myself in the final which should be fun tomorrow night.”