While world champion Gemma Spofforth and compatriot Elizabeth Simmonds have helped propel Britain to joint top of the standings at the European swimming championships, double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington admits she has been struggling.
Adlington, 21, stunned the swimming community when she garnered gold medals in Beijing two years ago in the 400m and 800m freestyle to break a two-decade Olympic drought for her country.
She came to Budapest seeking to use this week's event as a tune-up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.
But she freely admits she has yet to find her form after only placing seventh in the 800m freestyle won by Danish world champion Lotte Friis, who finished more than four seconds ahead of her.
At least Adlington was able to take some consolation in landing a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay won by Hungary although it was Jo Jackson who turned in the decisive final leg after Jazmin Carlin and Hannah Miley had brought the quartet back into contention.
"If I was at my best we would have won that," admitted Adlington, in allusion to leaving her teammates with it all to do after she placed sixth following her opening gambit before handing over to Carlin.
"I'm finding it difficult to deal with the pressure, I'm still trying to find my feet after Beijing," she told the BBC.
"I'm not using that as an excuse but I've got to find something that works for me, I can't always win and get a world record, that's not realistic."
The British quartet finished in a total 7min 55.29sec - 2.8sec off the Hungarians and 2.6sec off the French silver medalists.
But with the overall focus on the Commonwealth Games, the fact that four golds are already in the bag here suggest even more is to come in Delhi where Adlington will hope to finally find that little extra which has proved so elusive in Budapest.
"It's so hard on the distance work when you are not rested," she admitted.
"You are just so sluggish because you need that extra bit there for distance."
Source: AFP European Edition
