Freeze frame shows just how close US swimmer Luke Hobson was to 2024 Olympic gold before deflating result

US swimmer Luke Hobson came agonizingly close to an Olympic gold medal on Monday, only to settle for bronze after missing out by a matter of inches.

Hobson, 21, made his debut at the Olympic Games in the 200m freestyle after previously setting the US Open and American records for that event.

After a nail-biting race in Paris, the youngster walked away with a bronze in the bag to mark an impressive first appearance at the Games just four days after his 21st birthday.

However, the medal alone doesn't paint the picture of how close he came to gold.

A freeze frame of the finish line shows that Hobson was just a few inches shy of winner David Popovici when the Romanian completed the race, meaning he was on the cusp of a sensational victory.

In the end, though, he couldn't even celebrate a second-place finish as Britain's Matt Richards also pipped him to silver.

Hobson finished 0.07 seconds behind Popovici and 0.05 behind Richards with a time of 1:44:79, meaning he was only denied becoming an Olympic champion by the smallest of fractions.

He had edged himself in front at one stage of the race, only for Richards and then Popovici to claw their way back into the lead.

Britain's Duncan Scott, one of the pre-race favorites, had to settle for fourth-place on the day after coming in behind Hobson.

Scott, who won silver in the event at Tokyo 2020, finished just 0.08 secs adrift of the eventual bronze medalist.

Despite narrowly missing out on gold, the performance goes down as Hobson's best ever in the 200m freestyle.