Nearly but not quite in the pool on day three

New Zealand narrowly failed to get among the medals today.

The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay had to settle for fourth place after qualifying second fastest at the Tollcross International Aquatic Centre.

They had an excellent start from star performer Lauren Boyle with a 1:57.74 leg to be third, and remained third after a strong effort from Samantha Lucie-Smith (1:58.96).

While Australia streaked away to a Games record 7:49.90 and Canada chased them hard for second, it was England who pushed through over the final 400m to claim third, as Samantha Lee and Emma Robinson both clocked two minutes flat efforts.

They improved from their morning swim to clock 7:57.47 and had to accept fourth place, beating home in-form hosts Scotland.

New Zealand had qualified second for the final, clocking 8min 02.28s, more than four seconds behind pace-setters Australia.

New Zealanders were hoping for a medal from Glenn Snyders in the 100m breaststroke final, especially after his swift sub-60-second semi-final swim. In the final, Snyders was timed at 1min 00.64s, nearly a second down on his preliminary time, and finished fifth.

He was second to the turn in a slick 27.99s behind South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh but could only clock 32.65 for his second 50m, to be run down by eventual winner Adam Peaty (England) who won in a Games record 58.94s, Van der Burgh was second ahead of two Scottish swimmers, the 200m breaststroke winner Ross Murdoch and Craig Benson.

Laura Quilter was 10^th fastest qualifier in the 50m butterfly in 26.92s but could only manage 27.00s in the semi-final to miss out on a spot in the final by half a second.