Freya Colbert, Abbie Wood, Leah Schlosshan and Freya Anderson secured the United Kingdom’s first European title in Paris by winning the women’s 4*200m freestyle relay. Just minutes later, Matt Richards, Jack McMillan, James Guy and Duncan Scott followed suit by taking gold in the men’s event. Both British relays set new championship records, providing the perfect start to the opening night of swimming for the United Kingdom delegation.
Two relays, two titles and two championship records
The women’s relay made its mark on the evening with a commanding performance. After finishing fifth on the combined times from the heats, the United Kingdom opted to make changes to its line-up for the final, bringing in Freya Colbert and Leah Schlosshan in place of the two very young swimmers Theodora Taylor and Amalie Smith. The decision immediately paid dividends.
Leading off, Colbert went out hard and quickly established an early advantage for the United Kingdom. Abbie Wood then did an excellent job of maintaining the British lead, with almost two seconds in hand at the halfway stage. Schlosshan continued the work on the third leg, extending the advantage even further and taking the United Kingdom more than three seconds clear at the end of her 200m.
That left Freya Anderson with the task of bringing the race home. The British swimmer comfortably held off the challenge from the chasing teams to bring the United Kingdom home in 7:45.93, ahead of Hungary and the Russian swimmers competing under the neutral banner. It was a convincing victory, but more importantly, a new European Championships record, rewarding the changes made between the heats and the final.
The men’s race was considerably tighter. The United Kingdom had already posted the second-fastest time in the heats with Tyler Melbourne-Smith, Jack McMillan, Tom Dean and Gabriel Shepherd, but three changes were made for the final. Matt Richards replaced Melbourne-Smith on the opening leg, while James Guy and Duncan Scott came into the team in place of Dean and Shepherd alongside McMillan.
Richards was in the mix from the opening 200m, although he turned in fourth place at the end of his leg. McMillan was unable to immediately move the United Kingdom back into the lead, but the gap to the teams ahead remained less than a second, leaving the race wide open. James Guy then produced the kind of leg the British team needed. As he has done so many times on the international stage, Guy delivered when it mattered, moving the United Kingdom back into first place after 500m of the race.
Duncan Scott dived in for the final leg with only three tenths of a second separating the United Kingdom from the chasing field. The race remained finely balanced heading into the final 200m, but Scott held his nerve to bring the British team home in 7:01.51 and secure another gold medal. The victory also brought another championship record for the United Kingdom. It was a much closer contest than the women’s final, but the result underlined the depth of the British 200m freestyle programme, with the United Kingdom now double reigning Olympic champions in the event.
The evening had also begun with an individual medal for Max Litchfield, who claimed bronze in the men’s 400m individual medley in 4:11.58. The British swimmer, already a multiple European medallist in the event, returned to the continental podium once again with a controlled performance.
Another British performance to catch the eye came from Katie Shanahan, who comfortably secured her place in the final of the women’s 200m backstroke. Her 2:07.61 was the fastest time of the semi-finals, giving her a clear advantage over the rest of the field and putting her within touching distance of the personal best she set in 2023. The United Kingdom will also have two swimmers in the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke. Adam Peaty qualified third-fastest in 58.94, improving slightly on his previous season’s best. Behind him, Filip Nowacki won his semi-final in 59.03, setting a new personal best in the process and taking 17 hundredths off his previous mark of 59.20, set last year.
