The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pain for British swimmer as she misses out on medal
BRITAIN’S Keri-Anne Payne finished an agonising 0.4 seconds outside the medals after a thrilling — and brutal — 10k openwater race on a scorching afternoon in Hyde Park.
Payne was in the leading pack throughout the near two-hour endurance event on the Serpentine, but her late surge could not overhaul Italy’s Martina Grimaldi for bronze.
After nearly two hours of unrelenting pace, it took a nail-biting sprint finish from Eva Risztov to hold off Haley Anderson, of the United States, by less than half a second to win gold for Hungary.
Afterwards, world champion Payne said the “violence” she endured during the swim affected her performance
The 25-year-old also admitted making a mistake at a feeding station that could have cost her the race and hinted her future in the short-term could be back in the pool, which would mean a return to competi- tion against her bridesmaidto-be Becky Adlington in the 800m freestyle.
Watched by Prime Minister David Cameron, fiance David Carry — the Scottish swimmer — and most of the GB swim team, includingAdlington, Payne and 23 others plunged into the cold water of the Serpentine to swim the equivalent of 400 lengths of a local pool.
She was roared around every metre of the 1.7km lap course by the huge, sunkissed British crowd and stayed well in contention as mere seconds covered the leading 20 swimmers for much of the race.
As the race entered the final lap, Beijing silvermedallist Payne was only four seconds off the lead in fifth place.
Agonisingly, however, she could only f inish fourth, one place short of the podium.
“I tried absolutely everything I could,” she said, tearful and disappointed.
“I wasn’t expecting quite so many people to go so early, but I tried my absolute best.
“I’ve worked so hard for this, trained for the last 12 years of my life and gave absolutely everything I had.
“There’s not really a lot more I can say.”
Wiping tears away, she sportingly paid tribute to the three girls who beat her, calling them “outstanding” swimmers.
Her own race appears to have gone awry when she moved towards the bank to take a drink, held out on a stick at the feeding station.
“I made an error on the third lap when I went in to feed,” she said.