Keri-Anne Payne narrowly misses out on Bronze medal

Olympic 2008: Silver in 10km Marathon and World Champion Swimmer, Keri-Anne Payne

Heywood’s swimming hopeful Keri-Anne Payne has narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal after finishing fourth in the 10 kilometre open water marathon race this afternoon (9 August).

Keri-Anne had set her sights high, hoping to bring home the Gold, but tough competition left her just one second away from the coveted Bronze prize. Despite strong support from a legion of celebrity fans such as David Walliams on Twitter and being in the leading pack for the majority of the race, Keri-Anne finished just behind Italy’s Martina Grimaldi.

The race was won by Hungary’s Eva Risztov, with Haley Anderson taking home the Silver for Team USA.

Stuart Bithell’s men’s 470 sailing final medal race, also due to take place today, has been postponed until further notice due to a lack of wind. The Rochdale-born athlete Tweeted: ‘We are waiting for wind folks, be ready to book another day off work tomorrow if it doesn’t come!’