Thomas Haffield emerged from the heats of the 400m medley at British trials with a Commonwealth record of 4:12.59 in tow. He was almost speechless, repeating several times 'I don't know what to say, I really don't know what to say.' He was 86th all-time best before the race. Now he sits at No10 all-time. The Commonwealth standard had stood to Justin Norris (AUS) in 4:15.20 since 2004.

The 19-year-old Welshman from Cardiff had arrived at trials with a best time of 4:18.71. He needed a 4:18.40. He expected a sub 4:15. He could not quite believe that he raced inside 4:13. He was wearing the LZR Racer and said: 'I wasn't sure in my other swims during the week whether water was getting in. But after that, I will definitely be wearing this in the final tomorrow, no question.' Haffield's success maintains an unbroken record for his coach Dave Haller, mentor to David Davies who has placed swimmers on every British Olympic team since ... well, sometime not that long after Victoria was still on the throne frowning down on her people. (In fact, this will be the 11th Olympic Games at which his charges have been represented, so I'm not far out).

Haffield's splits: 58.74; 2:01.95; 3:14.23; 4:12.59.

He said: 'I thought I would get near to a 4:14. I can't believe it. Its a six-second pb (personal best).' But there was more to do: 'As nice as that was it's only half the job done. It's not just about records, it's about making the Olympic team.'

Since last summer, Hatfield has upped his workloads to regular series of 80km a week and a few of 100km in training a week. 'It's made a big, big, big difference.'