England's Adlington wins gutsy gold in 800m free

England's Rebecca Adlington put in a gutsy performance today, shrugging off illness to win the women's 800m freestyle gold.

England's Rebecca Adlington put in a gutsy performance on Thursday, shrugging off illness to win the women's 800m freestyle gold.

HT Image

The 21-year-old world record holder and Olympic champion led from the front and at one point had about a five-second lead over her nearest rival, Wendy Trott of South Africa, who won silver.

But Trott pegged her back in the final 200m as Adlington tired.

Australia's Melissa Gorman came third. Adlington, who won an unexpected bronze in her international debut at the 200m freestyle earlier this week and is also Olympic 400m freestyle champion, had been suffering from a stomach complaint.

She threatened to break the Commonwealth Games record of 8:24.62 set by Australia's Tracey Wickham at the 1978 Edmonton Games -- before Adlington was even born -- and was just off world record pace in the first half. But the England swimmer was just outside the record in 8:24.69.