• World Swimming Championships

Halsall falls short in bid for gold

Fran Halsall was not at her best in the 100m freestyle final © Getty Images

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Team GB still await their first gold at the World Swimming Championships after Fran Halsall missed out on a medal in the 100 metres freestyle.

Much was expected of the British team when they arrived in Shanghai but so far there has not been the glut of medals as was heavily predicted. Halsall, the European champion, entered the final as the fastest qualifier after posting the best time in the world in last night's semi-finals, but the Loughborough ITC swimmer could not reproduce the goods in Friday's showpiece.

The 21-year-old, who is accustomed to leading from start to finish, looked sluggish and could only place joint fourth with Femke Heemskerk in 53.72 seconds, with Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen and Aliaksandra Herasimenia, of Belarus sharing the title - the pair touching in 53.45s - and Holland's Ranomi Kromowidjojo in third.

"I was pumped and ready to go and excited about it," Halsall said. "It was just disappointing, it didn't happen on the day. It's just one of those days, it wasn't in the bank today. I just need to get my head down, just training and it will give me motivation for next year."

Adam Brown could not repeat the form that helped him qualify for the 50m freestyle as fourth fastest, touching in 22.21s to miss out on a place in the final.

There was disappointment for Michael Jamieson and Bath training partner Andrew Willis, with the pair finishing fifth and eighth respectively in the 200m breaststroke final - a race won by Hungary's Daniel Gyurta. More woe followed in the 4x200m free relay as the British quartet of Ross Davenport, David Carry, Jak Scott and Robbie Renwick came sixth. Ryan Lochte helped the United States claim gold and hosts China took bronze behind France.

But Rebecca Adlington showed the way with a dominant display in her favoured event, the 800m freestyle. The double Olympic champion left the rest of the field, which included defending champion Lottie Friis, in her wake to breeze through her heat.

"It's hard work, especially in the morning," she said. "I had no clue what time I was doing - I could have been doing an 8:40. It's the quickest I've gone in the morning except for Beijing when you didn't know whether it was morning or night anyway. The whole team is shocked by the depth just to get to finals. I just had to try to make sure I got through."

Earlier, Ellen Gandy showcased her enviable stamina by taking to the pool for her third event of the week in the 50m butterfly, having finished fifth in the 100m and collecting a silver in the 200m on Thursday. The 19-year-old was brought down to earth, however, finishing equal 20th in her least favourite race.

European champion Lizzie Simmonds narrowly booked her place in the 200m backstroke final, while American Lochte highlighted his burgeoning reputation by taking the 200m backstroke title in 1:52.96.

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