Swimming: Cooke keeps the heat on as England continue to excel

Rebecca Cooke's runaway victory in the 800m freestyle was one of England's finest performances in the pool at these Games so far.

It came a day after the hosts' record night of four gold and four bronze medals. Yesterday, she looked on course to secure her second gold after qualifying fastest at the heat stage of the 400m freestyle, clocking 4min 13.19sec.

"We're all on such a high at the moment," Cooke said. "England are exceeding all expectations. That was a solid heat swim this morning, but I'll need to step it up in the final to win the gold."

Manchester-based Adrian Turner was still basking in the glory of his bronze-medal winning performance in the men's 400m individual medley. Two years ago, the 25-year-old fell ill after discovering he had a rare kidney disorder, which almost cost him his life. One year and six blood transfusions later, Turner was back in full training and clinched his first major championship medal here on Friday before a vociferous home crowd.

Yesterday, Turner was the third fastest qualifier from the heats of the 200m individual medley with a career best time of 2:03.30. Australia's Justin Norris was in pole position and on course to clinch his third gold medal of the Games, while England's James Goddard, the surprise champion in the 200m backstroke final, was fifth fastest.

"I was thinking of knocking it on the head, but maybe not now," Turner said. "Only in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this would happen here. I nearly died two years ago – I never pictured myself with a Commonwealth Games medal. Now there's the chance of another, I'm just ecstatic."

As expected, England's Sarah Price booked her place in the final of the 200m backstroke in 2:11.91, while the defending champion Katy Sexton and Jo Fargus were the second and third fastest qualifiers.

Asked if England could do a clean sweep of the medals, Price said: "If we get the crowd behind us, who knows. We've been doing so well here, there's no doubt were capable of going 1-2-3."

The defending champion Mark Foster was another to qualify comfortably for last night's finals of the men's 50m freestyle. The University of Bath swimmer has won the one-lap splash and dash for the past two Games' and qualified with the equal seventh best time. Foster clocked 23.33sec, as did England team-mate Matthew Kidd.

Scotland's Graeme Smith set the second fastest time for today's 1500m freestyle final, finishing in 15:21.51 with Grant Hackett quickest in 15:20.63.