Swimming-Britain out of women's 4x200

Potential medallists Britain failed to qualify for the final of the women's 4x200 metres freestyle on Wednesday, finishing ninth in the heats.

France posted the fastest time of seven minutes, 50.37 seconds, just 0.28 seconds off the world record set by the United States at the world championships in Melbourne in March, 2007.

The United States were second and Australia third fastest.

Britain were European silver medallist in the event and had held out hopes of success in the event.

Rebecca Adlington, gold medallist in the 400 metres freestyle, was not among the four who swam for Britain but performance director Michael Scott said they had not taken a gamble with team selection.

"Definitely not. It didn't work out on the night, I accept full responsibility as the performance director but if you look at the stats, the teams winning medals have rested on one or two women.

"We have the depth in the 4x200 free relay, it was not a gamble, it was a statistical-based decision that didn't work on the day."

"On paper those four girls as a team should have qualified. We're a strong team, we'll support them, obviously they're disappointed and the team is disappointed and we'll use this as a positive."

Coach Ben Titley said the British women needed to focus on bouncing back from the setback.

"I'm really sorry it didn't pan out the way it should have. The team has to go on, it's a sign of a team how they respond to a big hit, and it was a big hit, but it's done now, history."

France's Coralie Balmy said they would need to be faster still to win in the final.

"It's great, we knew that we had a very strong relay," said Balmy. "We wanted to confirm we are the strongest relay in the world.

"We will have to swim faster in the final though because it will take another world record to win."