Great Britain's Adam Peaty will be unable to contest for a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke after failing to make tonight's semi-finals at the World Championships in Kazan.

The four-time European champion, who has won gold in both the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke this week, was just on the shoulder of the leaders at the halfway stage.

However, the 20-year-old dropped down the field after 150m and the race seemed to be a job too much for the Brit as he touched the wall ninth in 2:13.24.

In contrast, Peaty's teammate Andrew Willis made it safely through to tonight's semis after clocking the second-fastest overall time of 2:09.35 in his heat, just behind Germany's Marco Koch.

In heat four, Cameron van der Burgh, who won Olympic gold in the 100m event, led the way at the first turn, but he eased off slightly at the midway point.

In the final 50m, the sprinter, who has never medalled in this event in a major competition, dropped below the top three and eventually finished eighth in the field at 2:12.37, which was not enough to progress.