Cooke cruises to final

Rebecca Cooke today dominated her heat to qualify for the Olympic final of the women's 800 metres freestyle in Athens.

Cooke led from start to finish of the gruelling race to finish in a time of eight minutes 28.47 seconds, the sixth fastest time in the world this year.

It meant the 21-year-old from Crawley was the second fastest qualifier for tomorrow night's final, France's Laure Manaudou clocking 8:25.91 in winning the final heat.

"It was a really good swim, I felt really relaxed," said Cooke, a double Commonwealth champion and world championship bronze medallist over 800m.

"I hit my turns well and took control of the race and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to book my place in the final and I've done that.

"You obviously want to go faster in the final and I'm going to have to raise my game tomorrow night I'm sure but I think I'm ready to do that."

Britain so far has only one medal in the pool - Stephen Parry's bronze in the 200m butterfly - but Cooke insisted morale was still high.

"Team spirit is excellent," added the Glasgow based swimmer. "I can't commend the guys in the stands enough for giving so much support."