British Women Waste Medal Chance After Resting Key Swimmers

British swimming's efforts to build on the individual success of Rebecca Adlington suffered a disappointing setback when the women's 4x200m freestyle relay squad failed to reach the final in an event they had identified as a possible medal opportunity.

The decision to rest Adlington and Caitlin McClatchey in preparation for an anticipated final appearance backfired as Jo Jackson, Melanie Marshall, Hannah Miley and Fran Halsall trailed in a distant sixth, six seconds slower than the new Olympic record established by France in the previous heat.

"We've had a great 3-4 days and that was a smack in the face for us," admitted Marshall, declining to put a positive gloss on a sub-par collective performance. "We're absolutely gutted and sorry for everyone at home. Sport can be the cruelest thing in the world but I guess that's why people watch it. The other teams just swam faster than we expected. That was a medal prospect for us and we're all very disappointed."

With hindsight, it would appear the team management were guilty of not taking one race at a time, although there was little hint of alarm in the early stages. Jackson and Marshall swam good early legs and Miley kept in touch with the leaders in the penultimate leg. Halsall, sadly, could not sustain the momentum over the final 200m and Britain slipped to ninth overall, just outside the final placings. The result leaves Adlington to battle on alone in the 800m freestyle heats tomorrow with McClatchey having finished sixth in this morning's 200m freestyle final.

Halsall and Gregor Tait earlier reached the semi-finals of their respective events with some ease, finishing fifth fastest in the women's 100m freestyle and men's 200m backstroke. Halsall set a new British record of 53.93 secs in winning her heat, only 0.39 secs behind the fastest qualifier, Hanna-Maria Seppala of Finland.

James Goddard and Liam Tancock eased into the semi-finals of the 200m individual medley, with Goddard refusing to be over-awed by the presence of Michael Phelps in the next lane. Kirsty Balfour was less successful in the 200m breaststroke, failing to qualify behind Rebecca Soni of the US who set a new Olympic record in the same heat to continue the now-familiar trend. In just five days there have been 16 world records at Beijing's Water Cube.