GB medal hopefuls profiled

Sexton held off fellow Olympic hopefuls Melanie Marshall and Sarah Price to win in a time of 2:12.88secs.

The world champion was one of a host of Athens-bound swimmers to claim gold on the first night of the meet.

Rebecca Cooke, Alison Shepherd, David Davies, James Hickman and Darren Mew all enjoyed confidence-boosting wins.

Coming into the championships, Sexton insisted asthma attacks brought on by stress and chlorine were "under control" and no threat to her Olympic ambitions.

This result will further allay those fears.

Feature: Sexton leads from front

"I was surprised it was that fast," Sexton said of her time. "I feel more relaxed and I feel a lot more confident in myself. I can feel the training is paying off now."

Cooke clinched her first title of the weekend in the 400m freestyle, beating Joanne Jackson, while Sheppard, who is set to compete in her fifth Games, won the 50m free.

Hickman, another Team GB veteran, retained his 100m butterfly title but is not resting on his laurels.

"This weekend is a really tough meet because everyone is still training hard. I'm swimming faster than I have for a long time, but I need to be faster in Athens," Hickman said.

Davies swam within two seconds of his personal best in the 400m free, holding off fellow Olympic qualifiers David Carry, Adam Faulkner and Graeme Smith to win in 3:52.53.

I've got to work on getting out faster - that's what will be required in Athens David Davies

"That was the time I was looking for. This weekend is all about the last couple of swims before Athens. We'll be looking to fine-tune skills and put together some solid performances," he said.

Mew went head-to-head with reigning world champion James Gibson in the 50m breaststroke and came out on top by just six-hundredths of a second.

"I'm tired from training, so that wasn't a bad performance," Mew said. "I feel pretty wiped out at the moment, but saying that, it was still one of my fastest times this year, so the pace is still there."

Mark Foster, who missed out on Olympic selection in the 50m free, found consolation with victory in a time of 22.59secs.

"This weekend's all about proving a point to myself and others," Foster said. "I came here hoping to do something."

Britain's Olympic swimmers will continue their preparations in Manchester over the weekend before travelling to a pre-Games holding camp in Cyprus.