Berkshire's Tom Dean wins Olympic gold with men's relay team in ...

Richards had come within two-hundredths of a second of winning the individual event, settling instead for silver, as did Adam Peaty, who lost by an identical margin in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke earlier this week.

But there was no need for a photo finish this evening (Tuesday, July 30) as, while Team GB led by just half a second after the final exchange, Scott pulled away on the anchor leg to seal an ultimately comfortable win.

A time of six minutes and 59.43 seconds was 1.35 secs ahead of runners-up the United States while bronze medallists Australia were a further 1.2 seconds back.

Scott’s leg of 1min 43.95 secs was the race’s fastest and would have won him gold in the individual event on Monday, when he finished a disappointing fourth, just 0.08s off bronze and 0.15s off top spot.

The men shared the podium straight after the race, before greeting team mates, family and friends in the crowd - many friends and family of Maidenhead's Tom Dean who had travelled to France to watch the 24 year old win gold in person.  The relay quartet, including the former Maidenhead Marlins swimmer were defending the men's 4x200m freestyle title, having won at Tokyo 2020. A victory that couldn't be celebrated among family and friends, making this time around extra special.