The men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team stormed into the final as they look to defend their Olympic title.
The quartet of Tom Dean, James Guy, Kieran Bird, and Jack McMillan won their heat in a time of 07:05.11 and were the quickest qualifier overall to lay down a marker to the rest of the world.
The USA will be in the lane next to them in tonight’s final having triumphed in their semi-final in a time 0.46 seconds back on GB.
Guy, who raced alongside Dean in the Tokyo 2020 final that saw them secure the gold, produced a personal best time of 1:45.04 as he led out Team GB brilliantly.
"A super relay swim"
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 30, 2024
Team GB cruise through to the men's 4x 200m freestyle relay final – while resting their two big stars, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott!
They won their heat while easing up at the end. 🏊♂️#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/2EIhKtfyQD
“I’ve been doing the right training and getting great results in training over the last year,” the 28-year-old said.
“I knew I was going to swim fast for my freestyle, it’s just about improving, being clear on what I’m doing and working on.
“My previous PB was in Kazan [nine years ago]. It’s great!
“I don’t know about who's going to be in the quartet and the order – that’s all to discuss now.”
Matt Richards, who qualified for the men’s 100m freestyle semi-final in the morning’s heats, and Duncan Scott made up the rest of the winning four in Tokyo and are in contention to be involved this evening at 21:15 BST.
For Richards, he will be hoping to add to the silver he won in last night’s men’s 200m freestyle.
In his first individual final, the 21-year-old was just 0.02 seconds from gold having swam in an outside lane and will be similarly placed for this evening’s individual semi-final having qualified in tied 13th place, while Jacob Whittle just missed out on progressing.
Anna Hopkin and Matt Richards will also be back in action in the pool this evening. @annahopkin > 100m freestyle semi-finals@M4ttRichards > 100m freestyle semi-finals#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/HUsJJFZMKi
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 30, 2024
Richards said: “It was good. I’m trying to ease through the rounds a bit more and save energy for when it really counts.
“I could have made it less close, but I’m through and that’s all that matters.”
“If you’ve got a lane you’ve got a chance, I don’t mind where I am!”
Also advancing was Anna Hopkin who will race tonight in the first women’s 100m freestyle semi-final. Hopkin, who won mixed 4x100m medley relay gold in Tokyo, started strongly to finish fourth with a time of 53.67 in her heat and will aim to do the same this evening.
“I’m happy with that, into next round which is the main thing and then move on to tonight,” she said.
“Hopefully tonight I can have that front-end speed and it will feel quite easy, which is always the goal. “For me, going out hard is probably better for me so tactically that’s what I’ll try to do.”