04 October,2010 11:35 AM IST | | Agencies
England's double Olympic champion and world record holder Rebecca Adlington on Monday qualified for the 200m freestyle final but complained that preparations for the event were less than ideal.
The 21-year-old 400m and 800m star finished with the sixth fastest time in the four-length event - her first at international level - giving her a chance of a medal on Monday afternoon.
"I'll take it," Adlington told reporters. "When I finished I looked up and saw that I finished third. If I didn't I would have been embarrassed."
But she said getting to the S.P. Mukherjee Aquatics Complex in time for the 8:30 am start was difficult, with the Indian capital on "lockdown" over security fears.
"It's nothing like I've ever done before. We had to get up before 4:00 am to leave the village in time. It was all crazy," she said.
Adlington has failed to recapture the form that saw her win Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008 and break the 800m freestyle world record.
She won gold at the 400m free at the European Championships in August but could only manage seventh in the 800m.
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