OLYMPIC silver medallist Michael Jamieson avoided the controversy around him to qualify for Friday's 200metre breaststroke semi-final at the British Gas Swimming Championships.

Jamieson, who finished second at London 2012, looked like he would have to settle for runner-up in his semi-final as fellow Olympic finalist Andrew Willis stormed to victory.

But Willis, pending a late appeal, was disqualified for a faulty stroke leaving Jamieson as the fastest qualifier for the final as he touched home in a time of 2:11.30seconds.

And while the disqualification of his training partner was a real shock to the Glasgow-born swimmer, he insists he still needed to up his game ahead of the final.

"I need to find a bit more form," he said. "That was much better than the heats, that was kind of the plan to go a bit quicker in the semi-finals.

"It gives me a good gauge as to where I am at, they were queuing up behind me there and there are quite a lot of guys swimming 2:11 or 2:12 so I will definitely have to go quicker than that in the final."

Robbie Renwick stepped up his bid to secure both the British 200m freestyle title and the qualification time necessary for World Championship selection with a strong performance in the semi-final.

Renwick qualified fastest with a time of 1:47.76, just shy of the 1:47.47 standard required to compete in Barcelona, and is confident he can make the time in today's final.

"I was a bit anxious going into the race, I wasn't sure how it would go but I took it out hard and it is a solid time," he said.

"I need to go a bit faster in the final but I'll get a good rest until then and I am sure I can do it."

This year British Gas is launching SwimBritain, a programme to create a healthier nation and get 500,000 people swimming more regularly by 2015. Visit www.swimbritain.co.uk/challenge