Tokyo 2020: Tom Dean makes history with second Olympic gold alongside Bath team mates

James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott after winning the 4x200m relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Credit: PA
Credit: PA

Tom Dean became the first British male swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympics in 113 years after helping his nation to victory in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Dean, and fellow Bath team mates James Guy and Matt Richards, teamed up with Duncan Scott to take the title.

They were only 0.03 seconds off setting a new world record, with a time of 6:58.58.

Tom Dean (right) celebrates winning gold with (from left to right) Duncan Scott, Matt Richards and James Guy Credit: PA

Dean started the race and actually performed the slowest of the British quartet, with a time of 1min 45.72secs putting them behind the Russian Olympic Committee and the United States after the first 200m.

Guy, though, established a narrow lead for the pre-race favourites by the halfway stage with his split of 1:44.40 and despite a sluggish start Richards had taken that lead to more than a second with his 1:45.01.

Scott, whose runner-up finish behind Dean on Tuesday meant he collected his third Olympic silver, then brought it home in emphatic fashion with 1:43.45 as Britain finished more than three seconds ahead of the second-placed ROC.

The win comes just 24 hours after Dean swam to glory in the men's 200m freestyle, breaking the British record and adds to the growing number of medals being brought home by West Country athletes.