AIMEE WILLMOTT was unable to sign off her competitive swimming career with a medal, but the Teesside swimmer still ensured she went out on a high as she finished seventh in the Olympic 4x100m individual medley final in the early hours of this morning.

Willmott, who is set to retire after the end of her third Olympic Games, qualified second fastest for the final after a superb performance in yesterday's heats.

However, having spent so much energy in qualifying for the final, she was unable to repeat her heroics as she finished seventh, the same position she filled in the medley final at the 2016 Games in Rio.

Willmott said: "It was tough. Last night I swam pretty quick, just really wasn't thinking about where I was going in, I just knew I had to come back in this morning and give it everything that I had. That was all I had left.

"It's not sad tears, it's overcoming emotion. I just wanted to get out there and enjoy myself and it was so much fun.

"The race was as hard as I knew it was going to be but I guess the time was slightly off.

"But at this level after everything that's gone on in the world, you would never have thought that time would have won Olympic gold."

There was a surprise winner in the event, with Japan's Yui Ohashi claiming gold in a time of 4:32.08.

American duo Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger claimed silver and bronze respectively, with strong favourite Katinka Hosszu missing out on a medal.

Willmott finished seventh in a time of 4:38.30.