Payne’s terrible tactics leave her swimming slow upstream
TEAM GB’s Keri-Anne Payne rued poor decision-making as she finished an agonising fourth in the women’s 10km open-water marathon at Hyde Park yesterday.
Hungary’s Eva Risztov took gold ahead of American Haley Anderson with Payne, a silver medallist from Beijing, finishing just 0.4 seconds behind Italy’s third-placed Martina Grimaldi.
“It just didn’t go my way from the start,” she said. “I just made a bad decision on the third lap. I knew we had to feed, but it was a bad decision [to do it then] unfortunately.
“Open water is about who makes the right decisions at the right times and the top three girls, I can’t be upset with them winning.”
The competitors largely swam in a tight group but Payne, though considerably experienced, admitted she had also struggled with the physical nature of the race.
“I struggled in the pack with all the fighting that happened, there was quite a lot of yellow cards handed out and I got hit quite a few times in the face,” said Payne, who incidentally had struggled to build a trademark early lead.
“I tried absolutely everything I could. It didn’t quite go the way that I was hoping for it to go. I can’t be upset with it. Whatever was meant to be was meant to be and I guess I was meant to be fourth today.”
This latest disappointment compounded an underwhelming Games for Britain’s swimmers who are now certain to fall short of the five-medal target and have yet to win a single gold.