 Vladimir Dyatchin won gold by a fraction of a second |
British swimmer Alan Bircher finished eighth in the closest 10km open water race in World Championships history in Melbourne on Wednesday. Russian Vladimir Dyatchin took gold in one hour 55 minutes 32.52 seconds, edging out Germany's Thomas Lurz by six hundredths of a second.
"I felt sluggish from the start; after 20 minutes I just knew it wasn't going to be my day," said Bircher.
"It's disappointing because I've trained hard for this."
Despite his frustration Bircher managed to take some positives from his performance.
"I feel I'm getting back towards my best after two disruptive years," said Bircher, who finished just over 20 seconds behind the winner.
"The bronze was so close today, just not close enough, and I'll be working to get into the medals in future."
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