Morgan top-five in backstroke world clash

An electric atmosphere buzzed around the World Aquatics Championships Arena as Oliver Morgan took his place among the Men’s 100m Backstroke final on Tuesday evening in Singapore.

Launching powerfully off the wall on the starters signal, Morgan set out at pace to turn with a sub-25 second split at the 50m mark, and from there he stuck in well down the closing metres to touch in fifth place on the world stage.

“I'm definitely happy, obviously not a PB or anything but I think to be improving through the rounds is super promising - and fifth in the world, I can't complain with that,” said Morgan

“[Behind the blocks] I think I just had the race plan going through my head, you know, but also just taking in the crowd, taking in the moment. There are not many occasions you get to race the best in the world in the world's finals, it's all good fun and I loved the experience.”

Day three of the swimming action saw James Guy step out for the Men’s 200m Freestyle individual - a decade on from his title win at Kazan 2015.

A stalwart of Great Britain’s Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay team over the last 13 years, Guy had secured himself an outside lane for the individual showpiece in Singapore. Swimming a solid race, not far outside his personal best, was good enough for seventh on this occasion with Guy having demonstrated a progression in his performance across each of the rounds.

“It was obviously on the outside lane, but in terms of execution I did what I wanted to do,” said Guy

“I was faster than the semi-final, only point two off my best, so you know looking at the end result with that in mind it was okay. In terms of my goals and what I wanted to achieve here I wasn't really hitting that target, but nevertheless still a good swim tactically and hopefully I can improve that again for the relay.”

In the women’s event Freya Colbert booked her 200m Freestyle finals lane with a strong swim in a quick semi-final.

Fifth in her qualifier place her through seeded sixth overall as she eyes an opportunity to potentially chase down the British record among a fast field on Wednesday night.

“It's my first time racing the two free individually [at a major championships], so it's quite a bit of learning in terms of going heat, semi then final,” said Freya.

“There’s quite a lot of the tactical competition, but I think I’ve got more for tomorrow and I’m looking forward to putting down a faster effort – and hopefully getting my hand on the wall under that British record too.”

Meanwhile Ed Mildred set a new lifetime bests across the heats and semi-final of the Men’s 200m Butterfly as he produced a 15th place finish in his debut world championships event.

“For my debut World Championships and yet to come away to two PB’s is really good,” commented Mildred.

“I picked up the 200m fly this year after dropping it for a couple of seasons so I'm happy to go faster again than I was this morning.”

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

Tuesday 29th July Swimming results

Men’s 200m Freestyle: James Guy – 7th overall

Men’s 50m Breaststroke: Max Morgan – 29th overall

Men’s 100m Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – 5th overall

Women’s 200m Freestyle: Freya Colbert – 6th into final, Leah Schlosshan – 26th overall

Men’s 200m Butterfly: Ed Mildred – 15th overall

Extended results available on the World Aquatics website here.