Former Kesteven & Grantham Girls School pupil Freya Colbert misses out on second chance of glory in Paris

Freya Colbert was unable to turn disappointment into delight in her second event of the Olympic Games on Friday morning.

The former Kesteven & Grantham Girls School pupil bowed out at the opening stage of 200m individual medley after finishing in fifth spot in her heat.

Colbert had come agonisingly close to marking her Olympic debut with a medal on Monday night after after just missing out on the the top three spots in the final of the women's 400m individual medley.

She was just seven-tenths of a second behind bronze medal winner Emma Weyant to finish in fourth spot after being in the top three for the majority of the race before the American came on strong in the final freestyle section.

Colbert - who will also be going for gold in the team relay event - said: "I was looking for a high on my first day of racing but I will continue searching as we go through the weeks.

"I was really confident in my training coming into this. I felt that I was in a good position to beat my personal best - even though we knew that it might not be that sort of venue.

"I felt good to 300m but I could see Emma at the start of the freestyle.

"I tried to give everything on the freestyle but it just wasn't my day.

"I'm obviously disappointed – no one comes fourth and is happy about it but I know I gave everything that I had in the race."

The 20-year-old revealed that she had hoped to win a medal for Team GB swimmer Max Litchfield who had finished fourth at his third consecutive Olympic Games 24 hours earlier.

Litchfield had narrowly missed out on a podium place in the 400 metre individual medley in both the Rio and Tokyo Games.

Despite breaking his own British record on Sunday night, Litchfield again had top settle for a fourth place finish.

Colbert commented: "We watched Max on Sunday and it was such an emotional final session for the whole group.

"It was really disappointing for him after all the work he had put in and I really wanted to win a medal for both of us.

"We'll just have to keep pushing for the next time."

Colbert had earlier been part of the women's 100m freestyle relay team that finished seventh in Saturday's final.

It is her first-ever Olympic appearance after a series of medal-winning performances on the world stage this year.

She won gold at Doha in the World Championships 400m medley race and also secured a silver in the 200m freestyle relay.

Colbert also took gold in the 200m mixed freestyle relay at the European Championships in Rome where she landed a silver medal in 200m freestyle relay and bronze in the 400m medley.

She had looked well placed for a top three finish on her Olympic debut after the opening 100m stints of butterfly and backstroke.

However, she lost her grip on third place during the breaststroke section and was unable to pull it back during the final freestyle stint.

Colbert had successfully negotiated her way through the morning heats to secure her spot in the showpiece final.

She came third behind the American duo of Emma Weyant and Katie Grimes and qualified fourth fastest overall from the 16 swimmers across the two heats.

The final was emphatically won by teenage world record holder Summer McIntosh who was more than five seconds clear of the rest of the field.