England's Adlington wins gutsy gold in 800m freestyle

New Delhi: England's Rebecca Adlington put in a gutsy performance on Thursday, shrugging off illness to win the women's 800m freestyle gold.

The 21-year-old world record holder and Olympic champion led from the front and at one point had about a five-second lead over her nearest rival, Wendy Trott of South Africa, who won silver.

But Trott pegged her back in the final 200m as Adlington tired. Australia's Melissa Gorman came third.

Adlington, who won an unexpected bronze in her international debut at the 200m freestyle earlier this week and is also Olympic 400m freestyle champion, had been suffering from a stomach complaint.

She threatened to break the Commonwealth Games record of 8:24.62 set by Australia's Tracey Wickham at the 1978 Edmonton Games -- before Adlington was even born -- and was just off world record pace in the first half.

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But the England swimmer was just outside the record in 8:24.69, although not disappointed that Wickham's 32-year-old record still stood.

"I am so pleased with this win. It's not about the time. I just wanted to get out there and swim my own race," she told reporters at poolside.

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"My coach told me to stick with the pack and hold off til the end. But I was feeling so confident that I didn't want to hold back and I just went for it from the start.

"I saw Wendy was close by with 100m to go but I knew I was too good and I knew she couldn't catch