Having previously missed out by fingertips, Britain at last has a gold medal in the pool at the Paris Olympics. It was claimed by Team GB’s 4×200 metre freestyle men’s relay team, but given they have established themselves as such a formidable force in this event, you might as well call them the awesome foursome.
Three years after triumphing in Tokyo, the British quartet of James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott powered to the top of the podium again, their statement victory marking the third consecutive time Britain has won a medal in this race at a Games after winning silver in Rio.
It meant Scott, the only remaining survivor of the team from Brazil eight years ago, became Britain’s most decorated Olympic swimmer, joining Sir Chris Hoy on seven medals. The Glasgow swimmer fittingly anchored the team home with the fastest 200 metre split to claim victory in six minutes 59.43 seconds.
More to follow
10:05 PM BST
The champs
09:53 PM BST
Lovely scenes
After getting their gold medals and hearing the national anthem, James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott meet with their friends and family in the stands.
Jubilant reactions as you can imagine.
09:47 PM BST
‘They have turned up again tonight’
Olympic bronze medal swimmer Steve Parry reacts:
That is the first team in history, the same quartet, that has successfully defended the 4x200m freestyle title. These guys won it four years ago in Tokyo and they have turned up again tonight.
Special mention to two guys; James Guy has brought his A-game today, his personal best time. Also Duncan Scott, he has been the cornerstone of the British team when it comes to relay swimming. He brought the race home in 1 minute 43 seconds faster than what the event was won in yesterday.
Not only did they cope with the pressure of being favourites, they absolutely delivered. And in a ‘slow’ pool, just missed the world record.
09:40 PM BST
British Olympic men’s swimming gold medals since 1912
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1976 – David Wilkie in 200m breaststroke
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1980 – Duncan Goodhew in 100m breaststroke
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1988 – Adrian Moorhouse in 100m breaststroke
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2016 & 2020 – Adam Peaty in 100m breaststroke
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2020 – Tom Dean in 200m freestyle
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2020 & 2024 – 4x200m freestyle relay
09:36 PM BST
WATCH: How Team GB claimed gold
09:32 PM BST
Final classification
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Great Britain 6:59.43
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USA 7:00.78
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Australia 7:01.98
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China 7:04.37
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France 7:04.80
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South Korea 7:07.26
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Japan 7:07.48
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Germany 7:09.56
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Israel 7:10.22
09:27 PM BST
Result
Team GB succesfully defend their title. Awesome stuff. They swam so well individually.
Kudos to James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott!
09:26 PM BST
After 750m
Scott has a body length lead into the final 50m…
09:25 PM BST
After 700m
Scott in the final leg is in control of the race and where he needs to be. GB lead by 0.85s…
09:24 PM BST
After 600m
Richard is giving everything in the final 50m and gives GB a lead of half a second…
09:24 PM BST
After 500m
Richards keeps GB ahead of the Americans.
09:23 PM BST
After 400m
Here comes Dean! He fights back to give GB a lead over USA and Australia…
09:22 PM BST
After 300m
The lead changes again with Australia ahead with Germany second and GB in third.
09:22 PM BST
After 250m
The Germans are hitting back and have passed Dean…
09:21 PM BST
After 200m
Job done by Guy as he hands over to Dean…
09:21 PM BST
After 150m
Guy is extending his lead and braced to give Dean a healthy advantage…
09:20 PM BST
After 100m
Guy now leads and is on world record pace…
09:20 PM BST
After 50m
Guy starts strongly and is second at the turn behind the Germans. USA in third.
09:19 PM BST
Another medal for GB incoming?
Team GB finished fastest in qualifying. Now they go for glory.
James Guy will start off, followed by Tom Dean, Matt Richards and the anchor leg will be finished by Duncan Scott.
The world record is held by the USA – 6:58.55. The Olympic record – 6:58.56.
09:15 PM BST
Second men’s 200m breaststroke semi-final
Two wins for France Leon Marchand tonight and this one was very comfortable. He was on for a great time before taking his foot off the pedal in the last 50m.
Japanese duo Ippei Watanabe and Yu Hanaguruma finished second and third.
09:10 PM BST
First men’s 200m breaststroke semi-final
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook is the fastest finisher in the first semi-final ahead of Zhihao Dong of China and Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands.
09:06 PM BST
Wiffen reacts
I was writing, ‘I’m going into the history books.’ And that’s exactly what I have done.
It definitely (the perfect race) was in the way I wanted to execute it. It wasn’t the time that I wanted but you know Olympic finals aren’t about getting the time, it is about getting your hand on the wall first.
I haven’t seen [my coach] Andy, he is somewhere in the building. I’ve got no idea but I’m sure I will see him on that top podium later on.
I actually heard Nathan [his twin brother] when I was walking out and I thought ‘I can’t believe you have shouted that.’ He was the only person I could hear in the crowd which is pretty ironic, my twin is all I hear.
08:54 PM BST
‘Go-time soon for Team GB’
It’ll be go-time soon for Britain’s 4×200 metre freestyle relay team, who are heavy favourites to defend the gold they won in Tokyo three years ago. The team qualified fastest for the final earlier in the day – when they called upon the services of reserves Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird – but still the quartet still won comfortably, finishing in a time of 7:05.11.
08:53 PM BST
Wiffen wipes a tear
After receiving his gold medal, Wiffen raises it to the cheering gold. As the Irish national anthem plays, Wiffen becomes understandably emotional and he wipes a tear behind his glasses.
08:46 PM BST
Watch: How Wiffen claimed 800m freestyle gold
Daniel Wiffen made history as he claimed Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal of the Paris Games with a stunning victory in the men’s 800 metres freestyle final.
Wiffen became Ireland’s first male medallist in the pool and third overall after Michelle Smith and Mona McSharry, who only made it on to the list on Monday with bronze in the women’s 100m breaststroke.
Although Leeds-born Wiffen was trailing Gregorio Paltrineri with 50m left, he overhauled the Italian then held off a late surge from Bobby Finke of the United States to take top spot by 0.56 seconds.
08:39 PM BST
Result
Hopkins drops back and finishes in sixth place. Haughey of Hong Kong takes win in this semi-final. Jack of Australia and Steenbergen from the Netherlands finishes third.
08:37 PM BST
After 50m
Hopkin reaches the turn in third…
08:34 PM BST
Coming next…
Anna Hopkin in the women’s 100m freestyle semi-finals. The Briton is in lane two.
08:30 PM BST
Wiffen the history maker
The 23-year-old from Magheralin in County Down is the ninth athlete to win Olympic gold for Ireland.
Yessss! Daniel Wiffen, you legend!
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) July 30, 2024
08:23 PM BST
‘Wiffen with the swim of his life’
Wow, Daniel Wiffen with the swim of his life! He makes history as Ireland’s first ever men’s Olympic gold medallist in the pool at a Games.. and he sure had the celebration to go with it. Lots of vociferous Irish support inside La Defense Arena and they cheered him home on that last 100m. Sensational.
08:08 PM BST
Gold for Australia
In front of the watching Alex De Minaur and Lleyton Hewitt, Kaylee McKeown sets an Olympic record time of 57.33 to win the women’s 100m backstroke.
American duo Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff claim silver and bronze respectively.
08:05 PM BST
‘Busy night for Richards’
It’s a busy night for Matt Richards, whose time of 48.06 isn’t quite enough to progress to the men’s 100-metre freestyle. He’ll have a 90-minute rest before going in the 4x200m freestyle along with Duncan Scott, Tom Dean and James Guy.
07:58 PM BST
Marchand delights home crowd
Strong start to the night for France as Marchand books his place in the men’s 200m butterfly final.
07:45 PM BST
‘I have so much confidence in the boys’
Rebecca Adlington on the BBC:
I’m relaxed, I’m excited. I have so much confidence in the boys. I know they are going to absloutely smash it.
07:40 PM BST
Final classification
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Kyle Chalmers 47.58
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Nandor Nemeth 47.61
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Maxime Grousset 47.63
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Chris Guiliano 47.72
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Guilherme Santos 48.03
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Matthew Richards 48.09
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Andrej Barna 48.11
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William Yang 48.42
07:36 PM BST
Result
Australia’s Chalmers takes victory in 47.58s ahead of Nemeth of Hungary and France’s Grousset.
Richards comes home in sixth and is poised to miss out on a place in the final.
07:34 PM BST
After 50m
Richards has made a strong start and is third at the turn…
07:33 PM BST
Here we go!
Time for the men’s 100m freestyle semi-finals. Richards is on the outside in lane one.
Can he claim a place in the final? Let’s find out!
07:21 PM BST
Team GB interest
Tonight we have –
7.30pm: Matthew Richards in the men’s 100m freestyle semi-finals
8.33pm: Anna Hopkin in the women’s 100m freestyle semi-finals
9.15pm: Team GB in men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final
07:05 PM BST
Day four of the swimming
Hello and welcome to coverage of the fourth night in the swimming competition as Team GB look to pick up their first gold medal in the pool.
Britain are the defending champions in the 4x200m freestyle relay and they booked their place in tonight’s final on Monday.
Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott, eased to gold at Tokyo 2020 and they are firm favourites to retain their crown.
While Richards and Scott were absent in the morning’s heats after their exertions in the individual event on Sunday night, Dean, Guy, Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird negotiated safe passage to the showpiece.
Guy got their noses in front and Olympic debutants McMillan and Bird kept them ahead before Dean anchored them home in seven minutes and 5.11 seconds – going through as the quickest qualifiers.
The United States won the other heat but finished 0.46 secs adrift of the Brits, with the French, roared on by their home support, qualifying in third.
Richards has already picked up a medal in this year’s Games, silver in the men’s 200m freestyle. But the Briton feels he should have played gold.
“It’s mixed emotions,” he said. “An individual Olympic silver medal is massive, it’s huge for me, it’s something I’ve dreamt of since I was a little boy. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t dreaming of being one step higher on the podium.
“That’s down to my finish, my technical ability to get the pressure into the wall. If I got my hand on there first but didn’t put enough pressure through the wall, that’s not the wall’s fault, it’s mine.
“That’s something I’ve got to work on and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’m young, I plan on being in the sport at least another 10 years yet, so every one of these little lessons I can learn is hugely valuable.
“I did think I’d done enough, coming down that last 25, it did feel to me like I’d touched the wall but it’s not a sport of subjection, it’s black and white – it’s numbers and the scoreboard doesn’t lie.”
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