Swimming: Foster adds to medals as Crocker sets mark

Britain's medal haul on the penultimate day of the World Short Course Championships swelled to four after sprinter Mark Foster added the 50m butterfly silver to the freestyle gold he had won less than 24 hours earlier in Indianapolis.

Britain's medal haul on the penultimate day of the World Short Course Championships swelled to four after sprinter Mark Foster added the 50m butterfly silver to the freestyle gold he had won less than 24 hours earlier in Indianapolis.

At 34, the University of Bath swimmer is having one of the most successful major championships of his long career and in a top quality field emerged the closest challenger to eventual winner Ian Crocker, who took gold in a world record.

The American touched in 22.71sec, to beat the previous best of 22.74, held by Australian Geoff Huegill, with Foster second in 23.22 and Croatia's Duje Draganja third in 23.26.

Australian Matt Welsh finished ahead of Foster but was later disqualified for travelling too far underwater off the turn.

"I am delighted with the silver," said Foster. "Realistically I knew it was always going to be about Ian Crocker and I thought he was in world record form but I would have liked to have got closer.

"My main focus is the freestyle and that is what I have been training for all season while Crocker has been concentrating on butterfly, so the outcome could have been expected really. That takes my tally of medals won at international meets during my long career to 40 and I have to be happy with that."