Kathleen Dawson will pan for gold at the European Swimming Championships this evening after smashing her first-ever British record in Budapest last night.

Surely not her last. The 23-year-old from Kirkcaldy maintained her astonishing form by winning her semi-final of the women’s 50 metres backstroke in a championship record of 27.19 seconds.

It came after the Olympic medal prospect had stunned herself by knocking off the Scottish best in the morning heats.

But Dawson, who will be joined in the final by Stirling University team-mate Cassie Wild, again put her would-be Tokyo rivals firmly on notice.

She said: “I couldn't have asked for anything better than that. To be swimming so well at this point in the season, it bodes well for the Olympics. The Olympics are all I've wanted since I was a kid, so to be able to go into the Olympics in a position to possibly go for a medal, it's more than I could've asked for.

“I'm looking forward to the final. I know people will be looking out for me, but this is just prep for the 100m for me, so I'll just go out and enjoy it. Everything that I'm applying in training is finally paying off for me.”

Adam Peaty looks pumped for a gold run in Tokyo after snaring the European 100m breaststroke title for the fourth time in a row. The world record holder, 26, charged to victory in 57.66 secs with fellow Englishman James Wilby landing bronze.

“That's right at the edge of what I can do mid-season, with my moustache,” said Derbyshire’s dynamo. “Coming out here, I just wanted to enjoy it. Once I hit taper and am properly shaved, I'll have a nice bit of preparation into the Olympics and it'll be a good time.

“It's always nice to have something to improve on. Coming into this week, I was already doing hard sessions and then had a bit of rest coming into this. It's just testament to how powerful my stroke is feeling. So, come the Olympics, it's hopefully going to be a good show.”

Freya Anderson and Abbie Wood picked up their second golds of the week by linking with Tom Dean and James Guy to spur the Brits to victory in the 4x200 freestyle mixed relay in a championship best of 7:26.67.

Molly Renshaw moved into today’s women’s 100m breaststroke final with a UK record of 1:06.21 that bagged second in her semi, with Sarah Vasey also advancing. “I’m over the moon with that,” Renshaw said. “I know I made a few mistakes at trials and so the time wasn’t as quick as I wanted, but I didn’t expect to come here and drop that much time.”

Elsewhere, there was a rare dead heat with Anna Ntountounaki of Greece and Marie Wattel of France sharing 100m butterfly gold in 57.37 secs.

Duncan Scott opted out of the 100m freestyle to rest up for today’s 200m individual medley while Lucy Hope - who earned her own second gold here as a consequence of swimming in the 4x200 heats - will look to follow up Monday’s gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay when she goes hunting for an individual Olympic berth today over 200m.

While Ross Murdoch starts his bid in the 200m breaststroke today with the Scotsman chasing a repeat of his 2016 win to set him up for the Olympics.

“Having the opportunity to race these guys will help me stay calm there because I’ll know what to expect,” the 27-year-old said.

“I know what it looks like, and I know what it feels like to be behind. Or maybe I'll be in front. think that was one thing that I learned from 2016 was ‘don't be afraid to be in front.’ Because when I won the Europeans, I was used to being behind at 100 like I was at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”