Ireland's Andrew Bree has failed to qualify for the Olympic 200-metre breaststroke final despite breaking the Irish record for the second time in two days in Beijing this morning.
In a quick heat Bree clocked two minutes 10.16 seconds to finish fifth but a top four was needed if he was to make the final.
Bree finished 11th overall, while Japan's Kosuke Kitajima broke the Olympic record to win the heat.
"I know I'll look back on the race and pick up on something and learn from it. That's all I can do," said Bree afterwards.
"Last night, my 100m breaststroke was a just a slightly faster than my best … and it's good to get up and race fast this morning. It's just fun, you know, I'm having a good time."
Bree was scheduled to race in the second heat of the 200m individual medley at 12.46pm (Irish times)this afternoon, but opted not to take part after his exertions this morning.
For now, he is happy with the vast improvement he made this week that saw him smash his personal best and move to another level in the sport.
"It's 2.10 and below and not long ago 2.10 was the world record...the standard of swimming is getting faster, that's the main thing, I'm getting faster and I'm learning all the time," Bree told RTE.
200-metre breaststroke semi-final
1. Kosuke Kitajima (Japan) 2 minutes 8.61 seconds Q OR
2. Mike Brown (Canada) 2:08.84 Q
3. Scott Spann (United States) 2:09.08 Q
4. Brenton Rickard (Australia) 2:09.72 Q
5. Daniel Gyurta (Hungary) 2:09.73 Q
6. Loris Facci (Italy) 2:09.75 Q
7. Paolo Bossini (Italy) 2:09.95 Q
8. Hugues Duboscq (France) 2:09.97 Q
9. Neil Versfeld (South Africa) 2:10.06
10. Eric Shanteau (United States) 2:10.10
11. Andrew Bree (Ireland) 2:10.16
12. William Diering (South Africa) 2:10.21
13. Kristopher Gilchrist (Britain) 2:10.27
14. Igor Borysik (Ukraine) 2:10.99
15. Vladislav Polyakov (Kazakhstan) 2:11.87
16. Glenn Snyders (New Zealand) 2:12.07
Q = Qualified for final
OR = Olympic record