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Defending champion Ben Proud narrowly missed out on back-to-back 50m freestyle golds at the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne.<\/span><\/p>\n The Briton, 28, was second – 0.03secs behind Jordan Crooks, who earned a first ever swimming world championship medal for the Cayman Islands.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There was nothing between the pair at halfway but Crooks went narrowly ahead after the turn and held on to win.<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier, Britain’s Anna Hopkin took bronze in the women’s 50m freestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n The 26-year-old put in a strong second 25m to get onto the podium, with home favourite Emma McKeon winning gold in a new championship record of 23.04 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n Double Olympic champion Adam Peaty qualified for the final of the men’s 50m breaststroke after the <\/span>“pure anger”<\/span><\/a> of winning bronze in the 100m decider on Thursday, while Imogen Clark reached the women’s 50m breaststroke final.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n