BRITISH Olympic silver medallist Keri-Anne Payne failed to seal her spot for next year's Olympic Games in Rio as she came home 15th in the 10 kilometres marathon swim at the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, but will have another chance to qualify.
The 27-year-old, a two-time world 10km open-water champion, was in the leading pack for the opening three 2.5km laps but slipped away to finish with a time of one hour 58 minutes and 53.6 seconds with British team-mate Danielle Huskisson finishing 35th.
Both British competitors missed out on the chance to put themselves in contention for selection at the 2016 Olympics through a top-10 finish, but they still have another chance to qualify via a second qualifying event in Portugal next June.
France's Aurelie Muller secured gold in 1:58:04.3 ahead of European champion Sharon van Rouwendaal of Holland (1:58:06.7) and Brazil's defending silver medallist Ana Marcela Cunha (1:58:26.5).
Payne, who claimed two bronze medals on the 10km world cup tour this season, has taken encouragement from her performances since returning to competition one year ago.
"To finish 15th in the world in such a great field after only a year back in the water is an achievement in itself," said Payne.
"Of all the races I've done this year, this is only the second where I've finished outside of the top 10.
"Obviously I would have loved to have qualified for the Olympics a year out because it would have meant training would have been a little easier to focus on. But there's still another chance to go and qualify. It's not the way we wanted to do it, but that's just how it goes."
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