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1 month ago
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Britain claimed their fourth gold of the Paris Olympics on Tuesday night as their men's 4x200 metres freestyle relay team sensationally retained their title.
James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott — the same quartet who won at Tokyo 2020 — brilliantly beat their USA rivals by more than a second at La Defense Arena. And it was a night of double delight as Andy Murray and Dan Evans progressed to the last eight of the men's doubles, too.
It was Team GB's first swimming gold of the Games, with Richards celebrating victory 24 hours after the agony of missing out on winning Monday's individual 200m by just 0.02sec.
Scott also made amends for his fourth-place finish in the individual as he claimed his seventh Olympic medal — moving him up to joint-third on the list of Britain's most decorated athletes. Guy now also has six medals of his own.
Team GB led after each leg of the relay and finished in 6min 59.43sec, racing clear of the USA, who were 1.35sec behind. Australia picked up the bronze.
Britain secured their fourth gold of Paris 2024 on Tuesday night in the men's 4x200m relay
It was a silver lining for Matt Richards, who missed out on individual gold by 0.02sec on Monday night
There are hopes, meanwhile, that Adam Peaty will be able to compete later in Games after testing positive for Covid
This was only GB's sixth men's swimming gold since 1912 and Britain will be looking to win more swimming medals at the weekend in the mixed and men's 4x100m medley relays. They hope to have Adam Peaty healthy enough to feature, with swimmers and staff wearing face masks out of the pool as an extra precaution after the breaststroke star tested positive for Covid on Monday.
'We are taking precautions — wearing masks, using hand sanitiser, trying to keep our distance,' said Anna Hopkin, who won gold with Peaty in the mixed relay in Tokyo.
'Adam is doing everything he can to be fit for the relays. We will just have to see how the next few days go.'
Meanwhile, Murray prolonged his career yet again as he and Evans saved match points to beat Belgium's Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen. Britain just missed out on a gymnastics medal, when they finished fourth in the team event.
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