Jack Burnell was narrowly denied a first World medal after a frantic finish to the 10km marathon swim at the Kazan 2015 World Championships.
Competing at his second World Championships, the 22-year old was involved in the leading pack throughout the race but lost out in a highly physical battle for the finish line as he crossed fifth – just 5.1 seconds off the podium.
USA’s Jordan Wilimovsky sprinted clear in the final 100m to clinch gold with the Netherlands' European champion Ferry Weertman and Greece’s 2011 and 2013 World champion Spyridon Gianniotis following him home for silver and bronze.
And while Burnell, who won back-to-back 10km World Cup golds earlier this season, was disappointed to finish so close to the medals, his top 10 finish puts him in contention for selection to next year’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“The qualification for the Olympics was the main job coming into the event but in my heart, I knew I could win it,” said Burnell.
“I didn’t get into a rhythm from the start which is really where I’ve struggled today. I found myself in great positions which I manufactured but it just didn’t flow as well as the World Cups and it felt a lot rougher.
“I know for a fact there’s a medal in me for Rio and I thought there was one in me here.
“Unfortunately that didn’t happen today but if we can get a medal in Rio, then we’ll look back on the World Championships as a stepping stone to that.
“I think my training can be improved and there is a lot more to get out of that. I’ll be doing 10 sessions rather than nine next year so I’ll go into the Olympic year as fit as I possibly can be.”
Competing at his fourth consecutive World Championship 10km, Burnell’s Loughborough training partner Daniel Fogg finished 14th.