No fingertip near-miss this time, though still plenty of nervy nails chewed. But after first Adam Peaty and then Matthew Richards missed out on successive nights by no sort of margin at all, Britain finally struck Olympics gold in the pool, the men’s 4x200m freestylers eventually leaving the rest of the world trailing for the second Games in a row.
In triumph here at the aptly-named La Defense Arena, Duncan Scott, James Guy, Tom Dean and Richards made history as the first British swimmers ever to successfully defend an Olympic relay title, and the first from anywhere to do so as an unchanged team.
