British record holder Hannah Miley missed out on a medal in the final of the 200m Individual Medley on the second day of the FINA World Championships in Rome after finishing sixth in a world record breaking final.
The British Gas swimmer went into the final ranked as the third fastest athlete after breaking the British record in the semi-final.
Miley had a good start but soon found the other athletes went out into the lead and she turned at the 50m point in eighth place and had to fight back on the Backstroke leg to move to sixth.
The Olympic finalist’s strongest 50m was through the Breaststroke leg and she moved to fifth place. The leader of the race Ariana Kukors (America) was turning well under the world record as the race entered the final 50m.
The distance was too much for Miley to make up through the Freestyle and she touched home in a time of 2:09.91 in sixth place overall to better her Olympic result by five places.
“I can't complain with that performance,” Miley said. “To get through to the final was the plan and to swim three competitive 200m IMs at a World Championships gives me a lot of confidence.
“I'm disappointed that I went slower than the semis but I learnt a lot about this event and to be a part of that final was a great experience. I hope to use that to good effect for my 400m IM.”
The gold medal went to Arian Kukors in a new world record time of 2:06.15, silver was won by Australia’s Stephanie Rice in 2:07.03 and bronze was taken by Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) in 2:07.46.
The women’s 100m Backstroke saw both Gemma Spofforth and Elizabeth Simmonds reach the final after lowering their personal bests for a second time.
Spofforth, who just missed the world record in the heats, had to sit and watch the world record go in heat number one as Anastasia Zueva (Russia) took 0.30 seconds off the previous mark. The British Gas swimmer came out for her heat and looked confident as she stood on the blocks.
The European record holder turned in third place at the 50m mark but showed her power through the final length of the pool and won her heat in a new Commonwealth and British record time of 58.74. She qualified as the second fastest athlete for the final as she swam quicker than the previous world record time.
“I'm delighted to make the final,” Spofforth said. “The time is obviously great and would have given me the world record earlier but this event is moving on and we saw that tonight.
“There's a great team behind me, and we're all working hard to get some great results. Hopefully I can add to that with Lizzie as we will have two Brits in the final.”
Simmonds, who took part in the semi-final that saw the world record broken, swam to a new personal best time as she under a minute for the first time. She touched in third place in her race with a time of 59.55 and qualified as the seventh fastest for the final.
“I'm very pleased with that best time,” Simmonds said. “It felt a lot more controlled than this morning. I concentrated hard on swimming in the middle of the lane as I kept hitting the lane rope and it worked well for me to get me into the final.
“I'm so enjoying this meet, the crowd shouting, the arena and being part of a really strong team.”
