Live commentary of the UK Olympic trials on this website: Saturday 10 April, 1700 BST Sunday 11 April, 1525 BST

Edinburgh's Tait finished in 1:57:42 and was closely followed into Olympic contention by James Goddard.

"I knew I had it in me and decided to show it tonight," said Tait.

"It's not bad really. I'm just pleased it was enough to qualify for the Olympics. Obviously I'm extremely happy I did it."

Loughborough University's Mel Marshall was dominant in the women's 200m freestyle event when she went out below world record pace and blew away the field.

She could not quite manage to keep up the exacting tempo but still broke her own British record to finish with gold in the world's eighth fastest time ever of 1:57.52.

"I was pretty nervous going into the race," said Marshall.

"It meant everything to me as I came here four years ago and failed to make the team bound for Sydney. I had a lot of ghosts to lay to rest.

"I'm disappointed I didn't get Susie O'Neill's Commonwealth Record but am happy to be going to Athens.

"There is a lot of work to be done before then so we'll see what happens in August."