The University of Bath swimmer finished in a time of 23.62 seconds, just 0.12 seconds behind the winner, Geoff Huegill of Australia.

Sweden's Lars Frolander took the silver in a time of 23.57 seconds.

"I believed I could win a medal but I would have liked to have won it," said 31-year-old Foster.

"I tried to pick up in the last four strokes and if I had not got a medal I would have been devastated."

Reading's Rebecca Cooke broke her own British 1500m freestyle record by just over a second to finish fifth in the final of the 1500m freestyle.

Fellow Briton Sarah Price finished sixth in the final of the 100m freestyle, clocking a time of 1:01.82, just outside her personal best.

Two British swimmers are through to the final of the 50m breaststroke.

Darren Mew set a personal best time of 27.95 seconds in his semi, with James Gibson also making it through in fifth place.

Championship record

Germany's Mark Warnecke was the fastest semi-finalist, setting a new European record of 27.59 seconds.

Scotland's Alison Sheppard powered her way into the final of the 50m freestyle, winning the first semi-final in a time of 25.13 seconds.

But Loughborough's Rosalind Brett missed out on a place in the final after finishing seventh in her semi.

The Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn of Holland won the other semi in 24.45 to slice 0.06 secs off the championship record.

Another Scottish swimmer to make progress was Graeme Smith, who eased into the 1500m freestyle final.