• FINA Swimming World Championships

Defending champion Spofforth in shock exit

Gemma Spofforth was the defending 100m backstroke champion © PA Photos

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Great Britain's medal hopes suffered a big blow on Monday as defending 100m backstroke champion Gemma Spofforth missed out on the final due to sickness.

Spofforth could barely contain her emotions as she finished seventh in her heat in a time of 1:01.89. The 23-year-old had been suffering from sickness and diarrhoea over the weekend, and it was evident as she faded rather than accelerated - as is her trademark - during the latter half of the race.

"I've had a bad couple of days. I was quite sick on Saturday night and didn't eat much," Spofforth explained. "I don't just put it down to that. I've had a bit of a bad year and I'm not feeling quite so motivated so hopefully this week will give me a kick up the butt to get me motivated for next year."

"I thought I'd be a bit more mentally tough than that. I didn't really have it in me. It just wasn't to be. I was thinking last night I'd got rid of everything in my stomach the night before so I thought I'd be at racing weight!"

Lizzie Simmonds is now Britain's main hope in the event after she qualified seventh to reach the final. Simmonds clocked a time of 59.80.

There was more bad news when 10 kilometre open water champion Keri-Anne Payne failed to make the final of the 1500m freestyle. Payne finished second in her race, but it was only good enough for 12th place overall.

Liam Tancock, the defending 50m backstroke champion, snuck into the final of the 100m discipline despite finishing fifth in his semi-final. The Loughborough ITC swimmer is not unduly concerned though, insisting it is always more difficult to go in the first of the two semis.

"It's obviously good," he remarked. "I knew it was going to be a fast semi-final and when you are in the first one the second guys have got a chance to see what you do and mentally prepare. When you come fifth in your heat, you don't expect to make it to the final although I was really pleased with the time and pleased with what I did from the morning swim."

Ellen Gandy and Jemma Lowe both missed out on medals in the 100m butterfly final, finishing fifth and eighth respectively. Dana Wollmer, of the US, took gold in a time of 56.87. By contrast, the 19-year-old Gandy touched in 57.55, marking a real improvement for the youngster.

"I tried a different approach so I was able to come back a lot stronger. I am really happy with that swim," said Gandy, who held back during the first half of the race. "It's the fastest I've gone at this meet so I've got to be pleased. I was in the outside lane so I couldn't see what was going on. I knew it would be really close. The American had gone 56 [seconds] so I knew she would be blazing in the middle."

And European silver medallist Hannah Miley faced a tough field in the 200m individual medley final, finishing seventh. The race was won by Ye Shiwen of China, who was fifth with 100m to go.

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