FORMER Warriors of Warrington swimmer Kathleen Dawson won a 'swim-off' to reach the women's 100m backstroke final.

Swimming for Scotland, Dawson was joint-eighth fastest overall in the semi-finals in a time of 1min 0.67secs with England's Elizabeth Simmonds but triumphed in a direct race with her rival.

She now goes into the final, which takes place at 11am UK time tomorrow, Saturday.

Dawson finished second in her heat behind Australia’s Emily Seebohm in 1min 1.38secs.

The former Great Sankey High School student also goes in the 50m backstroke event, the heats of which start at 1.50am on Monday.

Meanwhile, James Guy helped England to a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Commonwealth Games.

The former Cardinal Newman High School student swam the anchor leg as England held off Scotland to finish second behind dominant gold-medal winners Australia.

Guy was alongside Ben Proud, David Cumberlidge and Jarvis Parkinson for the race.

Warrington Guardian:

James Guy in action earlier today. Picture by Mike Egerton/PA Wire

The relay silver came just after he came agonisingly close to an individual medal in the 200m freestyle.

In a star-studded field, the former Warrington Sports Personality award winner finished fourth, with Scotland’s Duncan Scott beating him to bronze by just 0.1secs.

Guy was leading at the final turn, but Australia’s Kyle Chalmers eventually took gold.

Host nation Australia also took the silver via Mack Horton, who won gold in the 400m freestyle race yesterday in which Guy won bronze.

Warrington-born para-swimmer Jacob Leach finished eighth in the S9 100m freestyle final.

Leach qualified as one of the eight fastest swimmers for the medal race, but Australia's Timothy Diskin took the gold medal.