• London 2012 - Open Water Swim

Agony for Payne in medal bid

ESPN staff
August 9, 2012
Keri-Anne Payne © Getty Images
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Keri-Anne Payne agonisingly missed out on a medal in the open water swim in the Serpentine, with the Brit coming home in fourth as Eva Risztov took a brilliant gold.

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Payne was a major hope for a medal and she produced a brilliant swim, being in the front rank all the way, but she came up just short in fourth.

"It just did not go my way," an emotional Payne said. "From the start they played me at my own game by leading from the front. The top 25 in the world are here and fourth in the world is not bad. It is not what I wanted as I worked so hard."

Risztov, who competed in the pool in these Games in 400 and 800, was a quite brilliant winner. The Hungarian used the tactics normally adopted by Payne, as she went out hard from the front. She led at most of the feeding stations and with 1000m left in the race, she made a decisive move by kicking into clear water.

As the pack splintered, four - Martina Grimaldi, Anderson, Angela Maurer and Payne - gave chase. At the final turn Anderson broke away from Grimaldi and Payne and the 20-year-old American started to eat into Risztov's lead.

Risztov's arms looked extremely heavy in the final 200 metres and it looked for certain that Anderson would haul her in, but the Hungarian responded when Anderson drew alongside and touched home for gold in a time of 1:57:38.2.

Payne made a huge late charge in the battle for bronze, but was edged out by Grimaldi by four one-hundredths of a second.

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