New GB record in freestyle relay

Davenport was part of the team that came eighth in the 4x100m final

Britain qualified for the final of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay, setting a new national record in the process.

David Carry, Andrew Hunter, Ross Davenport and Robbie Renwick set a time of seven minutes, 7.89 seconds to qualify fourth fastest.

United States, Italy and Russia set the top three times for Wednesday's final.

"Over 800m it's come down to 0.05 seconds between second and fourth. It's going to be very, very close but we know we can do it," said Davenport.

The United States knocked more than two seconds off the Olympic record when they clocked a time of 7:04.66.

British pair Jemma Lowe and Ellen Gandy qualified for the semi-finals of the 200m butterfly after making it through the heats.

Lowe, who swam in the final of the 100m butterfly, qualified in 10th with a time of 2:08.07 seconds.

Gandy set a time of 2:08.98 to go through in 15th position.

China's Liu Zige posted the fastest qualifying time of 2:06.46, with Aurore Mongel of France in second and Japan's Yuko Nakanishi in third.

"It hurt, the 200 always hurts," said 18-year-old Lowe. "My time was pretty average. I have had a lot of experience at 200 of going out too fast and struggling at the end.

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"At the worlds I went off ridiculously fast and got smashed on the last 50 but I have learnt from my mistakes."

And the 16-year-old Gandy expressed her relief at making the semi-finals after feeling the nerves before her race.

"I think everyone's first swim is pretty ropey but I'm just so glad I have scraped into the semi-finals," she said.

"I was more nervous than I thought I was going to be and hopefully I can calm myself down more and focus more on my race on Wednesday."

Britain's Kris Gilchrist and Andy Bree of Ireland both made it through to the semi-finals of the men's 200m breaststroke but James Kirton missed out.

Gilchrist clocked a time of 2:11.13 for 15th as he came third in a heat won by Italy's Paolo Bossini in a new Olympic record of 2:08.98.

However, that time was beaten by Hungarian Daniel Gyurta in the final heat when he clocked 2:08.68.

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Video - Bossini breaks Olympic record

Bree set a time of 2:10.91 in winning his heat to qualify with the 12th fastest time while Kirton could only clock 2:15.25 to end up in 37th.

Frenchman Eric Shanteau, who revealed last month that he was suffering with testicular cancer, qualified in seventh for the semi-finals in a time of 2:10.29.

The 24-year-old decided to put off surgery to compete in the Olympics, but only after being checked repeatedly to make sure the cancer was not spreading.

"This was the longest day of my life," he said. "That's why I'm glad finals are in the morning because you wake up, you race and you're not sitting around thinking about it all day."

"It was weird walking on deck. I was totally clear - not too many nerves, excited, but pretty calm."

In the men's 100m freestyle heats, Australia's world record holder Eamon Sullivan topped the qualifying times with a mark of 47.80 seconds.

Former record holder Alain Bernard of France and double Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands also reached the semi-finals.