Medley quartet go close in swimming curtain call

Bringing the curtain down on a tremendous nine-day programme at the La Defense Arena, Britain’s Men’s 4x 100m Medley team targeted the prospect of adding to the five swimming medals picked up in the pool so far.

Lining up in lane two for the final with only one change from the quartet that qualified their position seeded fifth out of Saturday’s heats session - Duncan Scott stepping into the butterfly leg to replace Joe Litchfield - the team was once again led off by Oliver Morgan who produced his fastest 100m Backstroke split of the meet to set the team away well in contention.

Adam Peaty has been a talisman of Britain’s medley relays over the past decade, and the Mel Marshall-coached swimmer charged out of the blocks. Using his speed over the first 50m Breaststroke he moved up into the lead at the turn, and produced a steely back-end to his swim to hand over to Scott in second.

Having anchored the team to silver at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Scott showed his versatility to take up the less familiar Butterfly leg and performed respectively against the best in the world to hold the team within the top-four. Matt Richards followed with a sharp takeover but unfortunately the gap to the medal positions was a stretch too far to bridge for the Men’s 200m Freestyle silver medallist and he anchored the team home to fourth.

Speaking on the closing event of his first Olympic Games experience, Morgan said:

“I think it’s my fastest this week so to be stepping up on day nine and producing that is something I can be happy with. We’d have of loved to be in the medals but it’s a tough field and I’m sure we’ll be back.

“For sure I’ve gained so much experience from that, and seeing all the support we get from back home and in here with people waving the GB flags around the arena has been incredible so I was really happy to be stepping up with these three boys tonight.”

Returning to the finals fold after resting up in recent days Peaty added on his leg:

“I couldn’t have swam it better, I just stuck on Nic [Fink] and took it out that first fifty, and I proved to myself just stay calm and get the stroke done.”

At the end of a busy programme for Duncan Scott he reflected with pride on the week.

“That’s a fourth place that we can hold our heads high and be proud with. We all put together really good individual performances and there was just some real quality left, right and centre in that pool,” he said.

“Right now we just need to be grateful for what’s just happened [this week] and be really excited about what a great Olympics it has been for Aquatics GB - some of the exciting youngsters, some of the great swims we’ve had throughout like the 4 x 200m relay, Benny P winning his first medal and much more – it’s not the right time to talk about LA as so much can happen between now and then, and I’m just really grateful for the week that I’ve been a part of and to finish with these boys has been special.”

With Richards echoing that sentiment adding:

“It’s been an amazing week. I can’t necessarily say it’s what I wanted to walk away with, but it’s my second Olympic Games, I’ve got an individual silver and another [4 x 200m Freestyle] gold with the boys, some great experience in relays like that tonight with the lads and I can’t walk away from it anything but happy.

“There is so much to learn from and so much to move forwards with – I’ve loved every minute and that’s the most important thing for me is that being in this arena is what I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little boy, and the longer I can keep doing that the more the results will come in over time.”

Looking back over the past nine-days, Great Britain’s pool swimming team leave Paris 2024 with the emphatic retention of the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle gold alongside four silver medals from Adam Peaty (Men’s 100m Breaststroke), Matt Richard (Men’s 200m Freestyle), Ben Proud (Men’s 50m Freestyle) and Duncan Scott (Men’s 200m Individual Medley).

The aquatics action continues throughout the second week of the Olympic Games with Marathon Swimming scheduled to take place in the Seine across 8th-9th August, while the Olympic Aquatics Centre hosts both the individual diving competition programme [5th-10th August] and Artistic Swimming Duet events [9th-10th August]. You can find details of all the upcoming aquatics disciplines schedules and previous session reports from Paris 2024 through our What’s On? Page.

Where can I watch?

The BBC will be covering the majority of the Games across BBC One and Two, the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer. You can find their coverage schedule by clicking here.

Discovery+/Eurosport will also be broadcasting every minute of the Olympic Games but these channels require a subscription fee.