Three British records were set in successive races as Gregor Tait, James Goddard and Liam Tancock all lowered the national mark in the 200 metres individual medley at the Olympic trials in Sheffield.

Tait, who had already qualified for Beijing in the 100m backstroke this morning, set the first record when he lowered Tancock's mark set in Chiba last August to one minute 59.15 seconds.

In the next heat, however, Goddard improved that to 1:58.43secs, a new Commonwealth record.

Goddard had little chance to savour his achievement as Tancock recorded a time of

1:57.79s, making him the fourth fastest of all time behind Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and European record holder Laszlo Cseh.

The 22-year-old, who was pre-selected for the 100m backstroke in Beijing, said: "The medley is just a bit of fun for me but I seem to be doing okay at it.

"I'm pleased with that race and looking forward to the final tomorrow."

Swimmers have to achieve the Olympic qualifying time set by British Swimming in the evening heats and then finish in the top two in the finals, held in the morning to replicate the Beijing programme.

That means the trio will line up against each other in the morning with five swimmers vying for two places after Euan Dale and Joseph Roebuck also gained the qualifying time.

Tancock, triple world backstroke bronze medallist, compared the competition to the strength in depth enjoyed in men's breaststroke in recent years.

"It's brilliant," he added. "Coming up through the juniors I did pretty much all the events.

"I thought my talent was in the backstroke but I am not too bad at the medley."

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