Thomas swims a personal best

Eve Thomas enjoyed a brief moment in the Olympic spotlight when she won her 800m freestyle heat tonight.

Thomas, 21, drew the first heat and swam a personal best of 8min 32.51s, seven seconds faster that she’d gone before.

Unfortunately for Thomas the next three heats were all quicker and with eight to go through to the final she missed out. Thomas was the 18th fastest of the 30 starters.

The fastest qualifier American gold medal machine Kathleen Ledecky, who cruised to a time of 8min 15.67s.

The other New Zealander in the pool tonight was 23-year-old Ali Galyer in the 200m backstroke. She swam 2min 15.15s, several seconds below her best.