Warrender swimmer Keri-anne Payne books Olympics spot

Capital-based open water swimmer Keri-anne Payne secured her Olympic place on Saturday with a cracking swim in Portugal.

Keri-Anna Payne is delighted to have secured a spot in Rio. Pic: TSPL

The Warrender athlete finished second in the FINA 10km Rio qualifying event.

China’s Xin Xin won the race, finishing in one hour 55.12 seconds, with Payne 0.8 seconds behind.

It means that the 28-year-old will be going to her third Olympics having previously won silver in the event in Beijing in 2008 and then finishing fourth in London in 2012.

Having been born in South Africa, Payne moved from Stockport to Edinburgh in late 2012 and joined Warrender.

“It is totally emotional and hasn’t really sunk in,” she admitted. “I have put so much into this last four years and I’m so happy that it’s all paid off in the end.

“Coming fourth at a home Olympics was the worst place to come and I took a year out after that, but I just decided at one point I needed to fully commit to it.

“Getting back into training was hard, but I have loved the journey.

“Everything I’ve done is to get prepared to stand on the podium in Rio. I’ll be doing everything that I can to make that happen.”