Luke Greenbank finishes ahead of defending 200m backstroke champion Ryan Murphy to qualify for final

Luke Greenbank has made it through to the final of the Olympic 200m backstroke after a stunning swim. 

The 23-year-old – who won bronze at the 2019 World Championship – finished ahead of defending champion America’s Ryan Murphy to win his semi-final with a time of 1:54.98. 

World champion Evgeny Rylov of the Russian Olympic Committee was the only semi-finalist to swim quicker, setting a time of 1:54.45.

However, Brodie Williams’ hopes of joining his Team GB team-mate in the final were left in tatters after finishing in last place in his semi-final. 

Anna Hopkin meanwhile qualified for the 100m freestyle final after a fourth-placed finish in the semi-final.

But Freya Anderson – who reached the 2019 World Championship final in the same event – will not be competing in the showdown after finishing in a disappointing sixth place. 

‘I feel OK,’ Anderson said. ‘I’m trying to not let this set me back more. Just thinking about the year that I have, I’ve really not had a good run in.

‘I think, maybe this was meant to happen for a reason? Looking back, I’ve probably only got in about six weeks of proper training, I had illnesses leading up to this. I’m just happy I got to come and experience this really.

‘Next year is very busy, so hopefully I can get my head down in training and get a good block in.’

Alys Thomas finished seventh in the women’s 200m butterfly final, in which China’s Yufei Zhang delivered a dominant performance to take gold with a new record time of 2:03.86.

The 200m backstroke world-record holder Regan Smith took silver, while her US team-mate Hali Flickinger collected the bronze.  

James Wilby meanwhile also finished outside the medal positions in sixth in the men’s 200m breaststroke final.

‘Physically – and mentally – it hurts,’ he told BBC Sport after his race, which saw Australian Izaac Stubblety-Cook take the gold.

‘I said throughout that it was always going to be that race. It wasn’t quite there. The result, it is what it is.

‘It is hard. The way I swim, it’s got to be. perfect balancing act. If I’mm off ever so slightly, it really pays, in a bad way. It’s something that I really enjoy doing – for balance – but it hasn’t really paid off this Games, unfortunately.’