Spofforth fails to qualify

The Briton, who also set the world record of 58.12 seconds in Rome 2009, was well off the pace in her heat, which included Australia's Emily Seebohm and finished seventh in a time of one minute, 1.89 seconds.

The 23-year-old's time was 23rd fastest, well outside the top-16 needed to make the semi-finals which will take place later on Monday.

Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin of the United States was the fastest qualifier in 59.73 seconds.

Michael Phelps, who is using the Shanghai championships as his first step in his preparations towards the London Olympics, swam well within himself to qualify fifth for the men's 200 metres freestyle - his first individual event of the meeting.

The American's team mate Ryan Lochte, swimming next to Phelps in the seventh heat, was the fastest qualifier, with Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands second and 2009 champion Paul Biedermann was third fastest.

South Korea's Park Tae-hwan, who won the 400 freestyle final on Sunday, was just ahead of Phelps in fourth.

World champion Rebecca Soni was impressive in qualifying fastest for the semi-finals for the 100 breaststroke, more than 1.5 seconds ahead of Ji Liping of China. Australia's Leisel Jones was sixth fastest, more than two seconds behind Soni.

"The 100 is not my best event," Soni, the Olympic 200 breaststroke champion, told reporters. "I just got a little nervous.

"At night (finals) you always get a little faster and its more exciting."

France's Camille Lacourt was the fastest qualifier in the men's 100 backstroke, while Denmark's Lotte Friis, the 2009 world 800 champion, was quickest in the women's 1500 freestyle with the top eight qualifiers advancing straight to the final on Tuesday.

Open water 10-km champion Keri-Anne Payne, who also swam the 1500, finished second in her heat behind Ireland's Grainne Murphy but failed to qualify for the final after she finished 12th overall.

Murphy also failed to qualify after finishing 10th overall.

"I have only done this race three times in my life and didn't quite know what the pacing is like," said Payne, whose 10-km victory at Jinshan City Beach last Tuesday ensured qualification for next year's London Olympics.

"I wasn't expecting (Grainne) to go as fast as she did."