Swimming: Michael Jamieson makes a splash but misses medal

With four-time Olympic gold medallist Kosuke Kitajima and reigning 200m champion Daniel Gyurta nigh on inseparable on route to the final - third was realistically Jamieson's best chance.

Jamieson was placed third at the halfway mark but died in the latter stages coming home in fifth in 2:10.67minutes with bronze going to Germany's Christian Vom Lehn.

Gyurta, who won European 200m gold last year, edged out Kitajima to retain his title while Jamieson's fellow Brit Andrew Willis was eighth, just over half a second behind his team-mate.

Jamieson's fifth-place finish in the 200m caps a year that has seen him progress from tenth at the Europeans to Commonwealth silver and now to this - and he's adamant he's no longer an unknown quantity.

"I've been going 2:10 or 2:11 for just over two years now so I feel I'm due a drop soon but I've put myself in the frame for next year now being in the top eight," said Jamieson.

"Ideally around 62.2seconds for the first 100m would have been all right. I know I'm capable of going out faster than 63 and holding it but 61.8 in the final was just a little bit too quick.

"I could see at the halfway mark that I was in the leading pack and I just thought in that third 50m as I started to burn that I should save something for the last leg. But it is important to get this major final experience and it is only going to help me in the year to come. I'm happy with fifth place in the world this year - I'll take that."

As has been the protocol throughout the opening six days in Shanghai, British individual finalists were few and far between on Thursday with just Jamieson in the 200m breaststroke and Fran Halsall in the 100m freestyle.

Halsall, unlike Jamieson, was expected to win a medal having won the world 100m silver back in 2009 and European 100m gold last year but it wasn't to be as she shared fourth position.

That leaves Britain's medal tally at just two, courtesy of silvers from Rebecca Adlington in the 400m freestyle on the opening day and Ellen Gandy in the 200m butterfly on Thursday. Britain claimed seven in the pool two years ago in Rome and with just two nights left it now looks hard pushed to beat or even match that, with Jamieson admitting he didn't quite have enough to make his contribution.

"I completely changed my tactics from the semi-final. I had nothing to lose, I was in an outside lane so I was hoping I could perhaps sneak away over the first 100m," he added. "But I just crept over that easy speed threshold and I was really hurting on the back 50m.But, again, it is a learning process.

"I didn't have the back end to come home, which is unlike me. The time is not where I want to be because I believe I am capable of swimming sub-2:10 definitely."

Britain also had final representation in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay with Scots Robbie Renwick, David Carry and Jak Scott joining forces with Loughborough flyer Ross Davenport.

They battled valiantly to sixth in 7:10.84 as America, led out by Michael Phelps and anchored home by Ryan Lochte, took gold, two seconds ahead of France with China claiming bronze.

Such is America's strength that they touched home more than eight seconds ahead of Britain in 7:02.67 but Carry is adamant the four have every reason to be positive in the build up to next year's Olympics.

"I think we probably got the best out of ourselves and, for me, a year out from the London Olympics, it is really exciting that as a team we did that," said Carry.

"To do what we did and under that kind of pressure was really, really impressive to see so I'm just really excited about next year, I've got goose bumps just thinking about it.

"Even the crowd was incredible. Can you imagine what it is going to be like next year? It is going to be so exciting and really good fun and enough of a boost for the long, hard year ahead.

"Just being able to focus on the now and get all those bits right and all those processes and then hopefully everything stacks up to a podium place."

lBritish Gas is supporting the British Gas GBR Swimming Team to win more gold medals, as part of its partnership with the sport at all levels. For more information visit www.britishgas.co.uk/swimming