The double Olympic gold medallist put in a hugely impressive display and led the race from start to finish to add to the 200m freestyle gold that she claimed earlier in the week.

Adlington finished in 8min 21.95sec to set the fastest time in the world this year and retain the British title she won at the Championships last year.

The battle for silver and bronze was extremely close but at the touch, Sasha Matthews edged out Jazmin Carlin by 0.13.

Matthews finished in 8:34.50, knocking almost 11 seconds off her personal best, with Carlin claiming the bronze in a time of 8:35.52.

Adlington said: "For me the 800 is the event that I love so it was really good to get back into that and feel so strong at it.

"It felt really smooth.

"I knew I was winning the race so it was just a case of keep it under control, don’t try to bash at it or get too excited."

The event acts as a qualifier for both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games later this year and the 21-year-old admitted that she is excited at the prospect of competing at her first Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.

Adlington said: "Everyone thinks it’s weird that I haven’t been to a Commonwealth Games because I have two Olympic medals.

"It’s my focus this year and hopefully I can go out there and get gold."

In the men’s competition, European junior champion Roberto Pavoni produced a surprise to finish ahead of Joe Roebuck and Commonwealth record holder Thomas Haffield in the 400m individual medley final while 50m backstroke world record holder Liam Tancock cruised into the 100m finals.

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