Alys Thomas qualifies for women’s 200m butterfly final despite finishing fourth in her heat

Alys Thomas will take part in the women’s 200m butterfly final despite finishing outside the top three in her heat.

The 30-year-old finished behind American duo Hali Flickinger and Regan Smith as well as Svetlana Chimrova of the Russian Olympic Committee.

But Team GB‘s 2018 Commonwealth champion Thomas snuck into to Thursday’s final after managing to scrape fourth place.

There was less good news however for Laura Stephens, who finished outside the places for the final.

China’s Zhang Yufei, Boglarka Kapas from Hungary and the former’s compatriot Yu Liyan took the top three positions.

The 22-year-old Team GB star however finished in sixth with 2:09:49, with Brianna Throssell of Australia and Japan’s Suzuka Hasegawa finishing above her.

Yufei therefore finished well clear of the rest of the field with Stephens coming home five tenths of a second outside the time she needed to reach the final.

In the men’s 200m breaststroke semi-final, Team GB’s James Wilby qualified for the final second-fastest with a time of 2:07.91.

But team-mate Ross Murdoch only ended up in a tie for fifth in his heat and therefore missed out on competing in the final.