Rebecca Adlington

Rebecca Adlington dominates 400m freestyle to seal her Olympic spot

Unlikely as it may seem, Rebecca Adlington has rarely been so nervous at the start of a race or as happy at the finish as she was for the 400m freestyle on Sunday night.

For four years Adlington has been dreaming about competing in front of her home crowd at the London Olympics. Now she has secured a place in the 400m at least, and the Games are so close she can almost taste them.

Adlington won the event at the British Championships, finishing well ahead of her friend and rival Jo Jackson. The two-time Olympic champion from 2008's time of 4min 2.35sec was the fastest in the world this year, but she did not think twice about that. All that mattered was that she had won selection, and her joy and satisfaction showed in the broad smile she wore on her face.

Ellen Gandy was no less elated when she won the 100m butterfly, breaking the British record as she did it. Her time of 57.25sec was 0.15 quicker than the old mark, set in 2010 by Halsall, who finished in second and also took the second spot on the Olympic team. Her lifelong friend Jemma Lowe, who finished seventh in the event at the World Championships in Shanghai last year, missed the cut.

"It's the biggest meet of all our lives," Adlington said, with irrepressible enthusiasm. "I am feeling so much relief, happiness, excitement – it's just an amazing feeling. I wanted this so badly. London has always been my target, and to actually finally know that I am going is the best feeling in the world."

Gandy agreed. "It's the greatest feeling ever," she added. "All I've wanted to do for the last four years is just be able to say: 'I'm going to the London Olympic Games', and now I can say it."

There is so much at stake here in the days until Saturday, with even swimmers of Gandy and Adlington's calibre terrified by the idea that they might miss out on Olympic selection. Great Britain have real strength in depth in both the freestyle and the butterfly, so neither had the comfort of feeling like qualification was a given.

Adlington was stricken with nerves before her final, wobbling on the blocks as she waited for the gun. Jackson who won the bronze behind Adlington in the 400m at Beijing 2008, and is still the British record holder, had to fight hard to hold off the double Commonwealth Games medalist Jazz Carlin, as well as Ellie Faulkner. That Jackson did it only made Adlington happier.

"I so wanted it to be Jo. Jazz and Ellie are amazing girls, but they have their whole careers ahead of them. Jo and I have so much experience together – we are such close friends."

Gandy, one of the Guardian's Olympic diarists, has been honing her technique in the turn over the winter. She is convinced it cost her the gold in the 200m butterfly at the World Championships in Shanghai. The work she has put in told.

Halsall is a sprinter and as is her style, she swam the first 50m hard and fast. Gandy was behind at the turn, but stayed underwater longer as she came back for the second 50. She and Halsall were neck-and-neck coming into the final 25m, but Gandy just edged ahead in the final few strokes.

The 100m butterfly will be as fiercely a contested event as any at these Championships. In 2011 there was just 0.12 of a second between Halsall, Gandy and Lowe. And as Halsall said: "Three into two doesn't go." Coming into the final, they were all in the top five of the world rankings.

But Saturday night provided a salutary reminder of the difference between domestic and international success, when Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, one of several overseas swimmers competing here to familiarise themselves with the Olympic venue, swam 56.79. Gandy knows she will most likely need to break 57 to win an Olympic medal. She is sure she can do it. "That's what I'll be aiming for at the Olympics later this year," she said, before letting slip an involuntary yelp of joy as she realised what she had just said. "Oh. I'm so glad I can say that now!" As can Daniel Sliwinski and Craig Benson, who both qualified for the team in the 100m breaststroke.

The butterfly and the freestyle made it an enthralling evening in this impressive pool, marred only by a tediously insistent MC and a headache-inducing pop soundtrack. "It's an unbelievable venue," said Adlington. "And that's been all the talk of the last two days."

For some it took more getting used to that for others. The sinuous bulges of the roof posed problems for the backstrokers, who tend to take a steer from what they see above them. "It's not straight," said Gemma Spofforth after her heat. "It's actually quite awkward with the lights."

Her team-mate, and rival for the title, Lizzie Simmonds agreed, to a point. "Every roof is different," she said, before dissolving into giggles. "That sounds really, really boring. It sounds as if I'm going to start discussing my conservatory."

Liam Tancock shrugged it off. "If the pool and roof are off kilter, you do tend to follow the roof. But we race outdoors, where there's nothing to follow apart from a few pelicans and a couple of clouds." All three will be back in the pool on Monday, when they will hope to be experiencing the same kind of elation as Gandy and Adlington.