Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ellen Gandy progressed to the Olympic 100m butterfly semi finals with a second place finish in this morning’s heats at the Aquatic centre.

The Bromley-born competitor went in heat five of six and followed compatriot Fran Halsall into the last 16 where she will swim again tonight.

Gandy, who was the youngest member of the British Olympic swimming team four years ago in Beijing, made a confident start to her swim as she reached the 50m mark in a time of 27.31.

That put her in third place at the turn but she powered home in the final stretch to pick up second place in 58.25.

The time was exactly one second shy of her qualifying effort from March – where she set a new British record – but sufficient to see her through to the next round as the ninth fastest.

The 20-year-old said: “I am pretty pleased with that. I just wanted to get that swim out of the way. I had quite a lot of nervous energy going into it.

“I just didn’t want to mess anything up through nerves so I am glad I did alright and I have progressed through to the semi finals as that was my goal.”

Halsall advanced as the eighth fastest in the heats, meaning the two will both be fighting for a place in the final when they swim again tonight.

Gandy added: “It is great that we have both progressed through to the semi finals tonight. That’s what we came here to do. It all starts tonight.”