Good morning and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of day two of the Olympic swimming.
There are four gold medals up for grabs today at London's stunning aquatics centre - women's 100m butterfly, men's 100m breaststroke, women's 100m freestyle, and men's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Two of yesterday's gold medalists face off when Ryan Lochte and Yang Sun take to the pool in the men's 200m freestyle, and we have British hopes aplenty with Rebecca Adlington in action in the women's 400m freestyle, and Liam Tancock in with a chance in the men's 100m backstroke.
There's unresolved business from yesterday too as Team GB's Ellen Gandy is seeking a medal in the 100m butterfly final. South African Cameron Van der Burgh is one to watch in the men's breaststroke final after breaking the world record in the semis.
21.30That's all from me today. Join Sports Mole at 9.30am tomorrow for all of the swimming action at London 2012. Thanks for reading!
21.26Elsewhere, Team GB's Liam Tancock and Gemma Spofforth have backstroke finals to look forward to!
21.23So to recap the day's major events, Rebecca Adlington secured a bronze medal for Great Britain in the women's 400m freestyle.
21.10It's silver for Phelps, Lochte and co, while the Russians go home with Bronze.
21.07It's neither! We have a shock on our hands as the French take the gold.
21.02Men's 4x100 freestyle relay final will cap off our evening. We're tipping the US in this one, though the Australians looked strong in the previous phase.
20.59Spofforth is comfortably through in sixth. Well done Gemma!
20.58US sensation Missy Franklin won the first semi-final, and Australia's Emily Seebohm has just claimed first place in the second.
20.57We're now into the women's 100m backstroke semi-final, and Team GB's Gemma Spofforth is odds on for a place in the final with a third-place finish in her semi.
20.33And that's not all. Liam Tancock powered through to the final of the men's 100m backstroke with a hugely impressive performance.
20.30It's looking like a good night for Great Britain. Rebecca Adlington takes home the bronze in the women's 400m freestyle, finishing behind France's Camille Muffat and Allison Schmitt of the USA in first and second, respectively.
20.20Adlington is up next in the women's 400m freestyle. Can she defend her crown? She faces stuff competition to do so. World record holder Pellegrini is in there, as is the favourite Muffat.
20.19Silver goes to Christian Sprenger of Australia, and Brendan Hansen of the USA captures bronze.
20.17And Van der Burgh of South Africa takes the gold with a world record-topppling time of 58.46
20.13The men's 100m breaststroke is up next. I'm looking forward to seeing Cameron van der Burgh in this one. He was fantastic during the heats!
20.11Apparently not! We've just had the medal ceremony for the winners of the women's 100m butterfly. Shouts of "USA, USA" emanate from the crowd in honour of Vollmer.
20.00There may be a tie for eighth in this event, though. Will there be a swim-off?
19.58Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, who impressed during the heats, has just broken the European record in the semi-finals with a time of 1:05.21, securing passage into the final.
19.46Sun narrowly wins the second heat, but the big news for Team GB is that Renwick is in the final!
19.44We've another heat to go, though, and Yang Sun is in it.
19.43Renwick is in with a good chance of making the final with his time of 1:46.65, which was equalled by Izotov of Russia.
19.41A joint-third place finish for Renwick, a great swim! Lochte is second. Paul Biedermann of Germany wins it and Lochte is second.
19.40Britain's Renwick is off to a decent start!
19.39We're under way in the men's 200m freestyle.
19.36Ying Lu of China takes the silver with a time of 56.87, and Australia's Alicia Coutts takes home bronze with 56.94. The previous world record holder Sjostrom must settle for fourth, and Britain's Gandy eighth.
19.33Dana Vollmer breaks the world record and takes the gold for the USA with a time of 55.98s
19.32Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden is the world record holder in this event, so she had to be considered one of the favourites.
19.26Okay, women's 100m butterfly coming up. Gandy will be in lane one.
19.19In terms of other predictions, we'd like to see Adlington successfully defend her gold, but she faces an uphill struggle. Rebecca is more suited to the endurance testing 800m, and that showed during the heats.
19.15Looking further ahead, Liam Tancock is in backstroke action in the mean's 100m semi-finals. Although his speciality might is 50m, he look comfortable during the heats, so we're backing him to secure a spot in the final.
19.13And let's not forget the British hopeful in this event, Robbie Renwick. He may be an outsider, but with the home crowd spurring him on, who knows what will happen?
19.10We also have a mouthwatering men's 200m freestyle semi-final on the menu. The USA's Ryan Lochte is up against China's Yang Sun. Both were gold medalists yesterday, and there was little separating them during the heats.
19.06Later on tonight, our very own queen of the pool Rebecca Adlington has her work cut retaining that 400m freestyle gold she won on Beijing, with the likes of Italian favourite Federica Pellegrini to contend with.
19.04First up is the women's 100m butterfly, in which Team GB's Ellen Gandy is up against the likes of Dana Vollmer of the USA, and Australia's Alicia Coutts. The very best of luck to her!
19.00Welcome back to Sports Mole's live coverage of day two of the Olympic swimming. There are four medals up for grabs this evening and Great Britain are competing for them on two fronts.
12.15And that concludes today's heats. We'll be back from 7.00pm to bring you all the action from the tonight's semi-finals and finals. Do join us then!
12:11If you've just joined us, it wasn't all bad news for the host nation. Liam Tancock booked his place in the final of the men's 100m backstroke earlier, and Rebecca Adlington made the cut for the women's 400m freestyle final.
12.09So to confirm, Team GB fails to make the top eight in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. They were a good couple of second behind slowest qualifiers Italy.
12.07The second heat was over in the blink of an eye, with the Australians coming first ahead of the USA. Both comfortably make it through to the final.
12.06Bad news for Britain in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. They come in sixth in the first heat as the France emerge victorious.
11.51Camille Muffat of France wins the final heat, and Adlington only just makes it through. Here time of 4:05.75 is enough to ensure eighth place. Phew!
11.48The result puts Adlington in fourth overall with one heat to go, but she's likely to progress.
11.46A shock result here! Pellegrini is in third, but that was a fast heat. The top three were all quicker than Adlington. Coralie Balmy of France wins it with a time of 4:03.56.
11.43Pellegrini is up in heat four. She's leads at the first turn, and will no doubt want to outdo Adlington.
11.41Adlington wins comfortably with a time of 4:05.75. A great swim, victory was almost effortless. Jackson finishes seventh and will bow out.
11.38Adlington maintains her lead at the halfway point. She's looking good for a win here, and the crowd is behind her all the way.
11.37She has the lead at the first turn, a good half a second.
11.35Nina Rangelova wins heat two. Adlington is up next! Good reception from the crowd!
11.33Adlington is up next in the third heat, alongside fellow Team GB hopeful Joanne Jackson. This should be interesting.
11.31She's the defending Olympic champion, but how often is that more of a hindrance? Federica Pellegrini of Italy will be a tough one to beat!
11.30We're in to the women's 400m freestyle now, and with the last of the unseeded heats about to begin, we're all looking ahead to seeing Rebecca Adlington in action.
11.19The USA's Matthew Grevers wins the final heat, but the good news for Britain is that Tancock is through to the semi-finals with the eighth-fastest time.
11.16Tancock puts in a solid heat swim to come second behind French world champion Camille Lacourt. Both are guaranteed a place in the semis with one heat to go.
11.15And here comes Britain's Liam Tancock in the fifth heat. Great start for him!
11.13Nick Thoman of the US just put in an excellent performance in the fourth heat with a time of 53.48. That will be tough to beat.
11.11The first of the seeded heats is under way in the men's 100m backstroke. In the previous heat, Britain's Chris Walker-Hebborn came an admirable third. Remains to be seen whether his time of 54.78 will be enough to see him through, though.
11.00Rebecca Soni of the US puts in a superb swim to win the heat with a finish time of 1:05.75. She's one to watch in the semis for sure.
10.58More British interest in action in the final heat in the shape of 16-year-old Siobhan-Marie O'Connor.
10.57Haywood comes eighth and certainly won't be progressing, while US favourite Breeja Larson wins the heat.
10.55Great Britain's Kate Haywood is up in the fifth heat, but this is a group of death.
10.54Wow! 15-year-old Lithuania Ruta Meilutyte wins it with a hugely impressive time of 1:05.56.
10.53The first of the seeded heats has commenced, and we have Sycerika Mcmahon of Ireland in this one.
10.50It's women's 100m breaststroke time, and Bosnia's Ivana Ninkovic took the first heat, Czech Republic's Tjasa Vozel claimed the second, and Alia Atkinson of Jamaica won the third.
10.41Team GB's Robbie Renwich makes the semis in sixth! Yang is fastest, followed by Lochte.
10.39Yannick Agnel wins in for France with a time of 1:46.60 - a relatively slow heat that one.
10.38The final heat is coming up next.
10.37Comfortable qualification for gold medalists Yang and Lochte in first and second, respectively.
10.36Looks like he's biding his time, lagging behind before the final sprint.
10.35I wonder who the favourite Lochte-featuring heat is?
10.33He comes second to Russia's Danila Izotov, but that was a great swim, spurred on by the frenzied crowd. His time of 1:46.86 will likely see him through! Lloyd comes in sixth.
10.33Renwick is in the lead here. Can he hold it?
10.31There are two Brits in the next heat - Ieuan Lloyd and Robbie Renwick. Good luck fellas!
10.29The third heat, the last unseeded, goes to Blake Worsley of Canada.
10.28The men's 200m freestyle is under way. Nicholas Schwab Alfaro won the first heat for the Dominican Republic, and Finland's Matias Koski took the second.
10.17The good news is that Team GB duo Gemma Spofforth and Georgia Davies make the semi-finals.
10.16Another close one! Five swimmer make it in under a minute with Miss Franklin of the USA winning it with a time of 59.37.
10.15And the final heat is under way.
10.13Very close heat there! Anastasia Zueva of Russia wins it with a time of 59.88. Spofforth is fourth with 1:00.05.
10.12Spofforth is in action in heat five now. She's off to a good start.
10.10Emily Seebohm, who won a gold medal with Australia's relay team, sets a new Olympic record. Davies manages second with a strong time of 59.92. That should be enough to ensure progression to the next phase.
10.08Maria Fernanda Gonzalez Ramirez of Mexico wins the third heat. Team GB's Davies is in action next in the first of the seeded heats.
10.04Li Tao of Singapore is the fastest in this heat. Nocher puts in a solid swim to come third.
10.03Melanie Nocher of Ireland is in the second heat, which is now under way.
10.02Karen Vilorio Muchnik of Honduras wins the first heat.
10.01They're off!
10.00The swimmers are on the starting blocks now and the first heat is about to commence.
9.55Spofforth is certainly one to watch. She came fourth in this event in Beijing, and will no doubt be looking to go one better today.
9.51Coming up first is the women's 100m backstroke, in which Gemma Spofforth and Georgia Davies are flying the flag for Britain.
9.49Team GB are without a medal so far, but Adlington is certainly in with a chance of setting this right, even though Federica Pellegrini of Italy is the favourite.
9.47Perhaps the most anticipated event of the day from a British perspective is the women's 400m freestyle, where Rebecca Adlington defends her gold medal from Beijing 2008.
9.43Lochte is in action again, this time in the men's 200m freestyle, where he faces stiff competition from newly-crowned 400m freestyle champion Yan Sun of China.
9.43Bad jokes out of the way, let's look ahead to today's action.
9.42Did anyone see the 100m butterfly yesterday? It was bloody huge!
9.41The result certainly left us asking a lot of questions. Has Phelps lost his crown as the king of the pool to his great rival? It should be interesting when the pair meet again later in the tournament.
9.39The Observer chose to focus on Michael Phelps's failure to secure a medal in the same event, running the headline 'That Sinking Feeling'.
9.35Many of the big stories from yesterday's events have made the Sunday papers today. 'A superstar is born', says The Sunday Times of Ryan Lochte's gold medal performance in the 400m individual medley.
9.34Good morning and welcome to our live blog from day two of the Olympic swimming. Let's hope it's every bit as thrilling as yesterday's pool action.
Written by
Mark Langshaw
Mark Langshaw
