AIMEE WILLMOTT admits she may have to re-assess her game plan in major competitions after just missing out on a medal at the European Swimming Championships.

The Middlesbrough swimmer took Commonwealth Games gold in the women’s 400m individual medley but finished fourth against a stronger field in Glasgow – narrowly missing out on bronze to Great Britain team-mate Hannah Miley.

The 25-year-old is known for being one of the strongest finishers around and she charged down the breaststroke and freestyle legs in the second 200m.

But a slow start to the race on backstroke and butterfly ultimately cost her.

“I went out a bit slow and in international swimming I need to work on that and make sure I go out a bit faster to keep up with the rest," she said.

“I am still off my best times and on the Gold Coast I was near that but here I was a second off.

“I would have liked to back up what I did over there with another medal here. But with a more international field with some really fast young girls coming through, I did not do too bad.

“Obviously you hit the wall and look up and want to know where you finished. I knew I was fighting down that last 25 metres but all I could see was a splash to my right.

“I did not know how many were over and who was in the race so I was just trying to get my hand on the wall first but I was just shy of a medal."

Willmott was not the only one to narrowly miss out on a medal, with Lucy Hope just falling short in the women’s 4x100m freestyle.

Hope was part of the team which qualified for the final but, despite a brave effort, they just missed out on bronze to Denmark.

It was a busy day for Hope, who also raced in the 50m – where she finished eighth in her heat.

“I am pretty happy with that,” she said.

“The 50m freestyle is not my main event and then we did well in the 4x100m too so I am happy.

“I am happy with how I performed, the time was neither or there and it is similar to what I have been doing all season.”

Elsewhere, Newcastle swimming prodigy Nick Pyle failed to reach the final of the 50m backstroke – finishing seventh in his semi-final in a time of 25.10.

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