Johannesburg - Freestyle swimmer Miles Brown on Sunday became the first South African to advance to the finals at the 15th FINAswimming world championships.
Brown finished fourth in his 400m heat in a personal best time of three minutes 47.17 seconds for the fifth best time overall.
"I was pretty happy with my swim. A personal best in a morning swim is not bad," he said.
"It is my first final in a major international meeting, so I will take that. I am not expecting too much from the final on Sunday evening as I am up against some very good swimmers.
"But if I manage to swim PBs (personal bests), I will be happy and hopefully I can do that for the rest of my swims also," he said.
Olympic champion Sun Yang qualified for the finals with the fastest time, swimming 3:44.67, followed by Canadian Ryan Cocherane.