Record-breaker Adlington savours Olympic gold

Published on Saturday 16 August 2008 11:21

REBECCA Adlington swam her way into the record books as she claimed an historic second gold medal for Britain.

The 19-year-old became the first British woman to win two golds in the pool by winning the 800metres freestyle in a world record time of eight minutes 14.10 seconds.

It followed on from her 400m success on Monday, when she became the first woman in almost 50 years to win gold in the pool.

Adlington said: "This means everything to me. I never knew it was going to be like this. I just got in there and did my best.

"It's absolutely amazing. I've worked so hard and it's paid off. It's so exciting."

Cassie Patten finished eighth in the same race, while Lizzie Simmonds earlier finished sixth in the 200m backstroke final and Fran Halsall failed to qualify for tomorrow's 50m freestyle final.

Kelly Sotherton's hopes of a medal in the heptathlon took a potentially fatal hit as she dropped out of the medal positions following the long jump.

The 31-year-old was 35cm below her personal best with a top jump of 6.33m and slipped to fifth as a result on 4,891 points, 154 behind leader Nataliia Dobrynska – and with her weakest event of the javelin next.

Fellow Brit Julie Hollman jumped 6.13m and climbed up the standings to 29th with a total of 4,290 points.

Christine Ohuruogu eased through her first heat of the 400m by winning her heat in a time of 51.00, while Lee McConnell and Nicola Sanders are also safely through.

Jeanette Kwayke powered through to tonight's second round of the women's 100m with a second-placed finish in her heat in a time of 11.26.

Montell Douglas is also through after she too finished second in her heat but Laura Turner missed out on a place as one of the fastest losers despite finishing fourth.

Pole vaulter Kate Dennison failed to reach the final despite a personal best of 4.40m, while Andrew Lemoncello failed to progress in the 3,000m steeplechase, finishing ninth in his heat after a time 13 seconds below his personal best.

Claire Wright has earned a spot on the reserve list for the women's trampoline final after finishing 10th in qualifying.

The 29-year-old earned a score of 63.10 for her two routines, missing out on the last place in the final by 0.8.