BICESTER swimmer Kieran Bird came agonisingly close to a Commonwealth Games final for the second time in as many days.

The Team Wales member finished fourth in heat four of the men’s 200m freestyle at Birmingham 2022.

Bird’s time of 1min 48.99secs was just 0.55 seconds slower than third-place Joe Litchfield, the last qualifier from their race.

The former Bicester Blue Fins member was similarly close to the 400m freestyle final on the previous day at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, where his efforts were only enough for last reserve.

Bird was in contention to race in the men’s 4x100m freestyle final but Dan Jones, Matt Richards, Tom Carswell and Calum Jarvis got the nod for Wales.

Meanwhile,Chinnor’s Max Clementson endured a mixed tournament with the England Rugby Sevens squad.

After losing 34-0 to Samoa in their Pool A opener, the home nation beat Sri Lanka 47-19 and went down 20-0 to New Zealand.

England beat Wales 14-10 in the 9th-12th semi-final to set up a meeting with Uganda in tonight’s final.