Adam Peaty shines as GB keep up perfect mixed medley relay record at European Swimming Championships
BySportsbeat
Updated 20/05/2021 at 20:18 GMT
Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin combined to make it four British victories from four since the 4x100m mixed medley relay was introduced at the Europeans back in 2014 "We went into the race with a very good plan," said Guy. "It was an excellent race. "Kathleen started great, I did a very fast leg, Adam just did what he always does."
Adam Peaty poses with his gold medal, European Aquatics Championships, Duna Arena, Budapest, May 18, 2021
Image credit: Getty Images
Great Britain maintained a 100 per cent record in 4x100m mixed medley relay races at the European Aquatics Championships by taking another gold medal in Budapest.
GB headed into the Championship having won the race at every Europeans since it was introduced in 2014, a streak they stretched as Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin blitzed the opposition.
Having the sport's greatest ever breaststroker in Peaty and a swimmer who had broken the Championship record in the 100m backstroke earlier that evening in Dawson certainly helped but all four swam superbly to smash the European record with a time of 3:38.82.
That was a mammoth 2.4s clear of Netherlands in silver and 3.48s ahead of third-placed Italy, as well as being a time that would have won gold at the 2019 World Championships and was only 0.41s outside the world record set by China in 2020 - both important milestones in an Olympic year.
Peaty has now been part of every European-winning 4x100m mixed medley relay in history and Guy believes the team are clicking ahead of Tokyo 2020.
"We went into the race with a very good plan," said the butterfly swimmer. "It was an excellent race.
"Kathleen started great, I did a very fast leg, Adam just did what he always does. In fact, this was my second-fastest split which shows we are on to something good."
And Dawson, who swum the backstroke leg against – among others - Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov, just 48 hours after he broke the men's 50m backstroke world record, added: "I really enjoyed this race as it's so different from the others, swimming with the boys.
"It was very exciting, I didn't expect to swim as fast as I did in the semis but I ended up improving my time by 0.01."
The mixed medley relay wasn't Great Britain's only medal success on day four in Hungary as Freya Anderson also picked up an impressive bronze in the women's 200m freestyle.
The 20-year-old turned in fifth at the 150m mark but flew down the final 50 metres and ultimately touched in third, just 0.15s behind the victorious Barbora Seemanova of Czechia, as only 0.28s separated the top four swimmers.
Those two medals take GB's overall tally at the Europeans to ten (four golds, four silvers and two bronze), with plenty more opportunities in the coming days.
Ross Murdoch was in medal contention at the final turn of the men's 200m breaststroke but came up just short as he finished fifth in a fiercely contested final, with fellow Tokyo-bound swimmer James Wilby ending eighth.
In his second race of the evening, after competing in the 200m freestyle semi-finals, Duncan Scott was unable to overhaul a deficit heading into the freestyle leg of the men's 200m individual medley as he finished sixth, while Max Litchfield touched in eighth.
Elsewhere on day four, Luke Greenbank – who will be heading to Tokyo in the 200m backstroke – came seventh in the 100m back final, while Laura Stephens and Keanna MacInnes touched in sixth and eighth respectively in the women's 200m butterfly.
Dawson preceded her relay glory by spectacularly qualifying for the women's 100m backstroke final in a new Championship record time of 58.44s, where she'll be joined by compatriot Cassie Wild.
Both Scott and Tom Dean cruised into the men's 200m freestyle final, as Molly Renshaw and Abbie Wood qualified as the fastest two women from the 200m breaststroke semi-finals.
Sportsbeat 2021
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement