Kerri-Anne Payne, second at last year's Olympic Games, turned silver into gold in the 10k Open Water swim at the World Championships.
The Stockport swimmer, who stayed out of trouble to dominate the race from the start, admitted that due to funding regulations she didn't turn her mind to the Open Water until three quarters through the season. Her funding depends on her performances in the pool, and not the Open Water.
Several swimmers tried to take the lead away from Payne but she was having none of it, hanging on to take gold with a time of two hours, one minute and 37.1 seconds, ahead of Russia's Ekatarine Selivertova and Martina Grimaldi of Italy.
The pre-race favourite, Russia's Olympic champion Larisa Ilchenko, withdrew halfway through the race. Ilchenko was beaten by a touch in the 5k yesteday, and was suffering both mental and physical fatigue.
Payne's victory notched up Britain's second gold medal in as many days afte Tom Daley's maiden world title in the men's 10m platform.
She now has four days to recover before competing in the 200m medley in the pool.
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