Laura Stephens wins Britain’s first women’s individual world title in 13 years

Stephens led from start to finish in the 200 metres butterfly.

Laura Stephens triumphed in the women’s 200 metres butterfly (Lee Jin-man/AP) (AP)

Laura Stephens claimed Britain’s first global title in a women’s individual event since Rebecca Adlington at the World Swimming Championships in Doha.

Stephens led from start to finish in the 200 metres butterfly, holding off Denmark’s Helena Bach by less than a tenth of a second.

The 24-year-old follows in the footsteps of double Olympic champion Adlington, who won 800m freestyle gold in 2011.

She said: “I came into this meet hoping for three solid swims, to learn through the process and to come away on top of the podium is kind of crazy.

“It’s a great way to start off the long-course season and hopefully I can just get faster and faster. This definitely gives me a lot of confidence towards Paris.”

Britain claimed a second medal later in the evening with silver in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

The quartet of Freya Colbert, Abbie Wood, Lucy Hope and Medi Harris finished behind China to improve on their fourth place from a year ago.

Lauren Cox and Matt Richards just missed out on medals in the women’s 50m backstroke and men’s 100m freestyle respectively, while Duncan Scott was sixth in the men’s 200m individual medley and Anna Hopkin qualified third fastest for the women’s 100m freestyle final.