Elizabeth Beisel wins silver in London

(WPRI) - North Kingstown's Elizabeth Beisel went into the 400-meter individual medley final as the favorite, but left as the silver medalist after an amazing world record swim by China's Ye Shiwen.

Photo Gallery: Race and Medal Ceremony

As usual, Beisel started off the event, which combines the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle in one race, slowly.  She was in eighth place after the first 100-meters of butterfly, her weakest stroke.

But Beisel came storming back, finishing the 100-meters of backstroke in second place, just .15 second off the lead and quickly took control in the breaststroke.

She had an .81 second lead after the breaststroke over Ye, but then the Chinese Olympian turned on the jets.

The 16-year-old Ye flew through the final 100-meters of freestyle setting a blazing pace and leaving Beisel in a distant second. Ye finished with a world record time of 4:28.43.  Beisel was nearly 3 seconds behind at 4:31.27. China's Li Xuanxu took the bronze in 4:32.91.

Beisel took to Twitter later in the night to thank her fans for supporting her.

"such an amazing night for team USA. couldn't be more proud of my teammates. thank you all SO much for the support. so stoked!!" she tweeted.

Beisel came into the event as the favorite to win gold according to the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated.

Beisel's second event is the 200-meter backstroke which begins Thursday.

400 IM - Final Results
1. Ye Shiwen, China, 4:28.43.
2. Elizabeth Beisel, Saunderstown, R.I., 4:31.27.
3. Li Xuanxu, China, 4:32.91.
4. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 4:33.49.
5. Hannah Miley, Britain, 4:34.17.
6. Stephanie Rice, Australia, 4:35.49.
6. Caitlin Leverenz, Tucson, Ariz., 4:35.49.
8. Mireia Belmonte Garcia, Spain, 4:35.62.