Tokyo 2020: Bronze medal-winning relay team on how Hannah Montana songs spur them on to success

The relay team explain one of the secrets to their success

Team GB's bronze medal winning women's 4x100m relay team have revealed one of the secret's to their success: singing Hannah Montana and High School Musical songs.

Speaking a day after the team of world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Daryll Neita, clocked 41.88 seconds at the Olympic Stadium behind Jamaica and the USA, they explained that one of the reasons behind their success is how well they get along.

"We know each other so, so well," Lansiquot told ITV News.

"We all need each other," Neita added.

"It's a team effort and there's a balance here- we all level each other out, we carry one another and I feel like that's why our team has been so successful; we are confident and we enjoy what we do and we want to make everyone proud - we've got the same goals and we just have a good time."

She added the team, who are constantly seen laughing and joking together, can be "quite child-like" which she believes is "refreshing".

Philip explained that Neita and Lansiquot "just sing all the time".

"Race day energy is High School Musical, Hannah Montana," Lansiquot said.

"You've got to keep the energy good, the banter good."

Hannah Montana was a US children's TV show which aired in the US between 2006 and 2001 and featured Miley Cyrus.

For Asher-Smith, the race was a comeback after her individual Olympic dreams were wrecked by a hamstring injury she suffered at the British trials in June.

She failed to reach the 100m final after running a time of 11.05secs – well below her 10.83s personal best – and then pulled out of the 200m. The 25-year-old returned on Thursday to help the squad reach the final, qualifying fastest in a new national record of 41.55s.

However, the failed to match this on Friday, leading some critics to argue that more was expected of the team.

Also on Friday, GB's men's 4x100m relay team took silver after being beaten on the line by Italy by 0.01 seconds.

The British men’s 4x100m team won a silver medal after being beaten on the line by Italy.

CJ Ujah, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake ran 37.51 seconds to be beaten to gold by 0.01 seconds.

It completed a remarkable summer for Italy after they won Euro 2020 and saw Marcell Jacobs take 100m gold in the Olympic Stadium on Sunday but Kilty sent out a warning ahead of next year’s World Championships in Eugene.

He said: "In the history of mankind this is Italy’s biggest year ever. Forget the Roman Empire, Nero, all that nonsense. This is as big as it gets for them.

"They better soak it in because they have conquered the world this year.

"What more can we say, we lost by a hundredth but God was looking over Italy. I don’t know where they dragged that from. We’re better than them and we’ll beat them next year."

He added: "When I was 10 and if someone said you will win an Olympic silver in Tokyo, I would have snatched your hand off. When I am 50 and fat and looking back on my career I will say that is one of the best nights of my life."

It was also bittersweet for Hughes after he was disqualified from the 100m final for a false start after cramping up in his blocks.

He said: "Tonight is a night where it’s special for me and the team, what happened in the past is in the past. I needed to gather myself and I did that.

"I came out here composed, relaxed and trusted the guys. I’m just happy to be walking away from this Olympics with a medal around my neck."