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Brave Huskisson secures best World Champs result

Danielle Huskisson showed she is ready to fill the void left by Olympic open water medallist Keri-anne Payne’s retirement as she finished 11th in the 10km at the FINA World Championships at Lake Balaton.

Competing at her third consecutive World Championships, the 24-year old’s previous best in the Olympic-distance of 10km had been a 33rd place on her debut in 2013.

But the University of Stirling swimmer smashed that result with her performance in Hungary, claiming the scalps of a handful of world class open water swimmers in the process.

France’s defending champion Aurelie Muller (2:00:13.7) retained her crown on the day, earning redemption for her disqualification in the final strokes of the 2016 Olympic 10km.

And while the podium places were some 50 seconds faster than Huskisson’s 2:01:06.01 effort, the English swimmer had Olympic champion Sharon Van Rouwendaal five places behind her in 16th.

Russia’s Anastasiia Krapivina and China’s Xin Xin – both top 10 finishers in last year’s Olympic race – also trailed Huskisson across the line in Hungary.

Huskisson pushing for lead at half-way stage

The British swimmer was never in the water to make up numbers, and took the lead in the race through the 3500m split on 43:04.6.

Huskisson remained in third through the 4km, 5km and 6km time checks before the leaders ultimately built some distance from her in the final third of the race.

But the Brit can take plenty of confidence from her performance in Hungary, with the 5km – the distance in which she won European gold in 2016 – approaching on Wednesday.

Competing at her second World Championships, Loughborough University’s Alice Dearing came home in 25th.

The 20-year old, who was 23rd in the 5km event two years ago, came home in 2:04:24.4.

  • Click here for full results from the 2017 World Championships.
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