SALISBURY swimmer Phil Muspratt returned home from his first mainstream international meet with encouraging results.

The British Gas International event, held at John Charles Centre for Sport, Leeds saw Muspratt pit his wits against many Team GB stars and 2001 double world champion Anthony Ervin.

Muspratt went onto beat Rickhuss and Nakagawa in a season’s best of 24.03 seconds, as well as Dutch international Joost Reijns. Muspratt’s time left him in 24th place, a five place improvement on his seeding of 29th.

He said: “I didn't produce the times I ideally wanted to. It’s however a step in the right direction for me after a disappointing start to the year, so I'm happy to be making clear progress.”

“Competing at such a highly regarded meet has left me wanting more. I have the World Championship trials in June to look forward to, so I'll train hard and continue to make progress.”