Keri-anne Payne's bid to win a third open water swimming world title faltered in Barcelona after a brutal race that left her bumped, battered and bruised.
Payne came home 14th in the 10km event, which was won by Brazil's Poliana Okimoto while her team-mate Ana Marcela Cunha Germany's Angela Maurer completed the podium.
But the Brit admitted she hadn't experienced such a physical open water race on the world stage before.
"The first few laps were absolutely fine and then all of a sudden it was absolute carnage," admitted Payne, who finished fourth at last year's Olympics.
"I’ve no idea how many places I lost going round one buoy, getting dunked, hit in the face and swam over. It’s not quite what I was hoping the swim would’ve been.
"The referees before the race said they were going to be really strict but I don’t think they were strict enough.
"The race didn’t need to be won by who has got the biggest elbows or who can dunk somebody the most. But maybe that’s just part of it and that’s the part that I’m not very good at."
Great Britain's Danielle Huskisson finished 33rd in her major championship debut - and admitted she'd learned plenty of lessons.
"Overall the first two laps felt pretty comfortable but during that third lap everybody came and toppled over the top of me and I couldn’t quite handle getting hit and pulled back - I was pretty exhausted by the end," she admitted.
"I think I needed to eat more. I was really nervous this morning so didn’t eat as much as I normally would and I had nothing left. I think next time I need to eat as much as I can and see if I can hold on."
© Sportsbeat 2013