KIERAN Bird insisted his Olympic debut would stand him in good stead after he finished 25th in the 800m freestyle.

The Bicester swimmer was sixth in his heat at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, stopping the clock at 7mins 57.53secs.

It was not enough to progress to the final, but the former Cooper School pupil took the positives from his first Games.

Bird said: "I'll definitely learn from this for the future."

On Saturday, the ex-Bicester Blue Fins member was eighth in his 400m freestyle heat to finish 20th overall in that event.

Bird's medal hopes are sadly over, but things are hotting up for Oxfordshire's rowers in Japan.

City of Oxford's Sholto Carnegie and Oxford Brookes University's Rory Gibbs will seek to continue Team GB's incredible record in the men's four overnight.

Their final begins at 2.10am BST tomorrow as they aim to win a sixth straight gold for their country in the event, alongside Oliver Cook and Matthew Rossiter.

Fiona Gammond, from Bicester, is part of the women's eight crew attempting to reach the final at 4.40am BST.

It is also a big day for Tom Squires, who has his seventh, eighth and ninth races in the RS:X Windsurfing.

The 27-year-old, from Kingston Bagpuize, is seventh in the leaderboard and will have another three races on Thursday before the medals are decided on Saturday.