Swimming: Rebecca Adlington seals golden hat-trick in Manchester

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington won her third title of the week after leading from start to finish to claim the 800metres freestyle at the British Gas Swimming Championships in Manchester.

The 22-year-old controlled her race from the off with Jazmin Carlin in second and Keri-Anne Payne third as all top-five finishers dipped under the World Championships qualifying time.

However, there was a shock in the 200m backstroke when European gold and silver medallists Lizzie Simmonds and Gemma Spofforth both failed to qualify for Shanghai in the event, Stephanie Proud taking the honours.

In dominating the 400m freestyle earlier this week, Adlington was 0.38secs quicker than her gold medal-winning time in Beijing. Her subsequent victory in the 200m saw her summon up all her strength and technique to touch out Carlin.

Last night she dominated from the start and was three body lengths ahead at the halfway stage. While Adlington was out on her own, the real race was unfolding behind her between Payne and Carlin with the Welsh woman pulling away from 500m. The Nova Centurion swimmer touched in eight minutes 20.23 seconds, her fastest in a textile suit with Carlin in 8mins 25.67secs. She said: "I would have loved to have scraped under 8:20 but hopefully at worlds, never mind."

A crowd of young autograph hunters had gathered for Adlington, who wants to use the publicity she has commanded since Beijing to inspire youngsters into sport. She added: "They tell you 'Oh I got in the pool because of you' or 'I started swimming because of you'.

"After everything from Beijing the one thing I wanted to achieve with the publicity was to inspire people to get into the pool."