Double delight for Foster

Mark Foster completed a golden double as he won the 50 metres butterfly on the final day of the World Short Course Championships here. The 29-year-old British defending champion, who had already won the 50m freestyle title, led throughout. He finished in 23.30sec, 0.16sec ahead of the American Neil Walker and 0.11sec shy of the world record set by Lars Frolander in the morning heats.

The 6ft 5in sprinter, who swims for the University of Bath, now trains in Hamburg under the coach Dirk Lange and is clearly benefiting from this. "I've had a great weekend but I would have liked to have gone home with a world record, although I can't be disappointed," Foster said.

James Hickman, the 24-year-old world 200m short course butterfly champion, gained his second silver medal of the Championships in the 200m individual medley.

The City of Leeds swimmer turned 1.24sec inside world-record pace at the midway mark, but over the breaststroke leg the world record-holder Jani Sievinen overhauled him to win his second gold in 1min 56.27sec, 0.59sec ahead.

Among other British near- misses, Nicola Jackson set a British record for the 100m butterfly when she came sixth, 0.13sec inside her mark in the semi-finals - the 43rd time the 16-year-old has broken a British record at junior or senior level in 18 months.

Britain concluded with another podium finish, and their 13th medal, when Neil Willey, Darren Mew, Hickman and Paul Belk took bronze in the 4x100m medley relay in a British record of 3:32.08.

WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Athens) Finals:

Men: 100m breaststroke: 1 R Sludnov (Rus) 58.57sec; 2 Zhu Yi (Ch) 59.99; 3 R Ivanovski (Rus) 1:00.05; 8 D Mew (GB) 1min 01.26sec. 100m freestyle: 1 L Frolander (Swe) 46.80sec; 2 S Nystrand (Swe) 47.73; 3 S Tucker (US) 47.82. 100m backstroke: 1 N Walker (US) 50.75sec (world record); 2 R Falcon (Cuba) 52.87; 3 D Buyukuncu (Turk) 52.88. 100m individual medley: 1 N Walker (US) 52.79 (world record); 2 J Sievinen (Fin) 54.08; 3 Hickman 54.38. 200m butterly: 1 J Hickman (GB) 1:53.57; 2 P Pietucha (Can) 1:54.27; 3 A Poliakov (Rus) 1:54.47. 200m breastroke: 1 R Sludnov (Rus) 2:07.59 (world record); 2 T Parkin (SA) 2:07.91; 3 A Ivanov (Rus) 2:09.90. 1500m freestyle: 1 J Hoffmann (Ger) 14:47.57; 2 I Chervynskiy (Ukr) 14:48.20; 3 C Carvin (US) 14:51.23. 200m individual medley: 1 J Sievinen (Fin) 1:56.27; 2 J Hickman (GB) 1:56.86; 3. M Rosolino (It) 1:58.05. 4x100 relay medley: 1 US 3:30.03; 2 Germany 3:31.77; 3 Britain 3:32.08.

Women: 50m backstroke: 1 A Buschschulte (Ger) 27.90; 2 L Chaing (Can) 28.03; 3 K Mcmillan (Aus) 28.06; 4 S Price (GB) 28.40. 50m freestyle: 1 T Alshammar (Swe) 23.59 (world record); 2 S Völker (Ger) 24.77; 3 A Sheppard (GB) 24.80. 100m butterfly: 1 J Thompson (US) 57.67; 2 J Sjoberg (Swe) 57.96; 3 K Campbell (US) 58.86. 200m backstroke: 1 A Buschschulte (Ger) 2:07.29; 2 C Stoney (Aus) 2:08.64; 3 L Benko (US) 2:08.85. 200m freestyle: 1 Yang Yu (China) 1:56.06; 2 M Moravcova (Slovak) 1:56.46; 3 N Baranouskaya (Belarus) 1:57.54. 400m freestyle: 1 L Benko (US) 4:02.44; 2 Y Klochkova (Ukr) 4:04.39; 3 Cheng Hua (Ch) 4:06.63. 100m individual medley: 1 M Moravcova (Slovak) 59.71; 2 M Limpert (Can) 1:02.00; 3 A Kejzar (Sloven) 1:02.24; 7 S Whewell (GB) 1:02.91. 200m individual medley: 1 Y Klochkova (Ukr) 2min 08.97sec; 2 M Moravcova (Slovak) 2:08.98; 3 M Limpert (Can) 2:12.68. 4x100m relay: 1 Sweden 3:35.54; 2 Germany 3:37.31; 3 Britain 3:37.93. 4x100 relay medley: 1 Sweden 3:59.53; 2 Germany 4:01.47; 3 US 4:02.51.