Stephen Wrightin LondonRecord breaker Roy-Allan Burch insisted he had no complaints after failing to qualify for the men’s 50 metre freestyle semi-finals on Thursday.Burch shattered his previous national record to win his heat in 22.47 seconds, but agonisngly missed out on reaching the next round by two tenths of a second.His personal best time may have only been good enough to finish 24th overall, but Burch did himself proud, saving the best performance of his career for London 2012.He said his swim felt “amazing” but believed a technical error he made when lining himself up to touch the wall at the finish had proved costly.“I had a little bit of a strange finish and in this business you can’t afford to make any mistakes,” he said. “It was probably the difference between me reaching the semi-finals and not. I have absolutely no complaints and the swim felt amazing.”Burch expressed concerns before the race about swimming in a heat with competitors far slower than him. He feared they would not be capable of pushing him to his limits and therefore hinder his qualification chances.And while the 26-year-old still swam faster than ever before, he admitted the relatively poor standard of rivals he was up against had been a huge disadvantage.“I’m happy with how it went, however I really needed to be in a heat with some top swimmers who I knew could go past me,” said Burch.“I knew there would be no one capable of really challenging me, which makes life more difficult when you’re trying to qualify. If felt almost like I was swimming at a meet in Bermuda to be honest.”The Charlotte-based athlete expected to break the national record he set at the World Championships in Shanghai 12 months ago, and firmly believes he is closing the gap on the world’s elite swimmers.“It would be a bit disappointing to come to an Olympics and not set a personal best,” Burch said. “But it’s encouraging to see your times improving, to know you’re closing the gap on the top guys.“I know there’s more to come from me and I know I can achieve more in Rio in four years’ time.”A proud Ben Smith, the national swim coach, believes Burch must regularly compete against the world’s best if he is to make his mark at the next Olympics.“Roy had a great swim and should be very proud of his accomplishments,” he said.“The touch at the end probably made the difference between Roy finishing 24th and in the top 16; it’s all about how well you finish at this level.“His Olympic preparations were very good, although I think he needs to be up against the top guys more often. Whenever Roy competes against the best he seems to get more out of himself.“There’s certainly no reason for Roy to hang up though, because he’s obviously still improving.”