Jackson claims 800m freestyle silver - but nothing for Adlington

From James Toney and Ryan Bangs, Sportsbeat, in Rome

GREAT Britain's Jo Jackson won her third medal at the World Swimming Championship - but this time Rebecca Adlington wasn't alongside her on the podium.

ANOTHER SILVER: Jo Jackson was all smiles after a second silver - and third medal - at the World Swimming Championships in Rome

World record holder and Olympic champion Adlington was red-hot favourite for the 800m freestyle - advancing through yesterday's heats as the quickest qualifier.

But she found the pace too much as Denmark's Lotte Friis won gold, Jackson took silver and Italy's Alessia Filippi edged out the double Olympic champion for bronze - to the delight of a near-capacity crowd at the Foro Italico.

“That definitely wasn’t fun – it was the most painful event of the week for me,” said Jackson, after a 8.16.66 time that knocked more than a second off her personal best, set at the British Gas national championships earlier this season

"It is so demanding but to come away with silver is amazing.

“You don’t know what is going to happen in the final, it is anyone’s game. There were nine lanes and anyone could have got in there and won.

“Obviously Becky was upset with how she did but she is still a double Olympic gold medallist and she still has the world record and she will come out fighting next year.

“The 800m is a very new event for me, I haven’t done it very often and I don’t see it as my main event. However, hopefully the more I can do it, the better I can get.

“I have to learn from this week and go away and look at what I have done and improve things.

“I don’t really know what I was expecting. I put aims down on paper and they were times not medals and I think I have got pretty close to most of them.”

Adlington will return from Rome with two bronze medals but such a heavy defeat in her most favoured event will hit her hard.

Last year she totally dominated the Olympic final but she admits that the last 12 months have seen her struggle to cope with the demands that success in the Water Cube have brought.

"Coming back a year after the Olympics, it’s a little bit of a comedown for me,” admitted Adlington.

"I just need to go away and focus on my swimming and not do anything else.

"I need to get back to loving it and just enjoying it without doing all the media stuff.

"I didn't realise how much the pressure would hit once I got to the major meets."

Adlington also hinted she may have got her preparations wrong - and claimed she'd not been feeling in peak form all week.

"But I really wanted to do a personal best at this meet and that didn't happen," she added.

“All week I have been finding it really hard. I may have over-tapered, I don't know, I can’t explain.

"I found the 400m really tough, although I managed to pull it out in the final.

“I'm not having that much of a great meet, I'm just finding it really difficult.

"I’m so pleased for Jo because it is unbelievable what she has done."

Elsewhere, Gemma Spofforth, Lowri Tynan, Ellen Gandy and Fran Halsall finished fourth in the women's 4x100m medley relay in a British record 3.57.03. China took gold in a world record while Australia and Germany completed the podium.