Despite being a favourite and among the leaders through at least two-thirds of the race, Belgium's Marleen Renders failed to finish.

BBC: Guida breaks Italy's duck

Only two are allowed to progress into the semi-finals, Marleen Veldhuis, who anchored the relay team to victory on Tuesday showed every sign of breaking the world record in the semi-finals but went out more slowly this time and was well shy of Britta Steffen's mark.

BBC: What do they say about the best laid plans?