Roy-Allan Burch, the Bermuda swimmer, has reason for optimism after setting a personal best in the 100 metres freestyle semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games.

Burch placed fifth in his heat in a time of 50.26sec to finish eleventh overall in the competition at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

The 28-year-old will now turn his attentions to the 50 freestyle — his signature stroke — in which he competes on Monday.

“That’s my personal best. so I’m pretty happy with that, although I was trying to go under 50 seconds,” Burch said.

“I can take some encouragement from that swim, as you always want to know that what you’re doing is working.

“However, my focus is really on the 50 because I’m more of a 50 guy who goes up to the 100.”

Burch knew that he had to make a flying start to stand any chance of forcing his way in the finals and found himself in second position at the halfway point.

But as he expected, his body simply ran out of steam as he valiantly pushed for an always unlikely qualifying berth for the final.

“The only chance I had was to go out as fast as I could and see if I could hang on,” the North Carolina-based athlete said.

“My body doesn’t feel too bad right now, but I definitely got tied up in the final 15 metres or so.

“I’m not known for my back half, so I had to take it out fast and see where I ended up.”

Meanwhile, Nick Kyme bowed out of his final Commonwealth Games, losing to Scott Fitzgerald, of Wales, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 in the plate quarter-finals, a consolation event for first-round losers.

Kyme, 33, is one of only a few ever-present players since squash was first included at the Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1998.

In the classic plate quarter-finals, a consolation event for second-round losers, Micah Franklin’s Games also came to an end after an 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 defeat by Joe Chapman, of the British Virgin Islands.

Tre Houston made a belated start to the Games but his run in the 100 metres was ended in the first round. The Bermudian stumbled terribly out of the blocks and recovered finished fourth in heat eight in a time of 10.72sec. However, he was well down the list of potential qualifiers, with 10.45 taking the sixteenth and final spot into the semi-finals.