Ye Shiwen fails to reach podium at swimming worlds

China's Ye Shiwen swims in the women's 200m individual medley final during the World Swimming Championships at the Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, July 29, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

BARCELONA, Spain - The failure of Olympic gold medalist Ye Shiwen to finish among the medals in the women's 200 meter medley in the FINA world championships currently being held in the city of Barcelona is one of the big shocks of the first two days of racing in the pool.

The 17-year-old looked off her best form and finished fourth in the race, a long way behind Hungarian gold medal winner Katinka Hosszu and over a second behind silver and bronze medalists Alice Coutts and Spain's Mireia Belmonte, who had swum a 1,500 meter freestyle heat earlier in the day.

Ye Shiwen was off the pace throughout the race and made the final turn in last place, before her strong freestyle took her to fourth by the end.

Speaking to Xinhua afterwards, Ye appeared to be in good spirits despite the setback, but admitted she had not been close to her best.

"I was expecting to do better," she said, "but after the first 100 meters I felt pretty bad in the water. I tried to catch up in the breast-strike (third leg), but it left me too much to do over the last 50 meters."

China's Ye Shiwen looks on after the women's 200m individual medley final during the World Swimming Championships at the Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, July 29, 2013. [Photo/CFP]