Richards seals silver as Olympic debutants show their promising potential

Matt Richards sealed Team GB’s second swimming medal of Paris 2024 – on a night when Britain’s Olympic debutants showcased their promising potential on the international stage.

While Richards’ second place in the 200m Freestyle was the highlight of the evening for the British team, there were also a number of other standout performances at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Freya Colbert was just outside the medals in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley after finishing fourth, while Ollie Morgan and Angharad Evans showed they were not overawed by the occasion on their first Olympic finals.

Richards claimed his first individual Olympic medal with a magnificent swim from lane one as he clocked 1:44.74 – and missed out on the podium’s top spot by only 0.02 seconds.

It looked like he had pipped Romania’s David Popovici to the gold but he had to settle for second place.

Duncan Scott was fourth in a time of 1:44.87 – finishing 0.08 behind America’s Luke Hobson who took the bronze.

Richards said: “I can’t be too disappointed with that. My first individual [medal] at an Olympic games so to come away with a silver is great. 

“To be two one hundredths off gold is excruciatingly frustrating.

“I thought I had got it, it felt as if I had touched it first. 

“The time says differently. It is not a sport that is up for debate, it is black and white. It wasn’t my best finish, I would be lying if I said it was fantastic. 

“We move on, we get better and try to get it next time.

“If anything it has added more fire to my belly. I’ve got a lot more to come this week, the 100m is tomorrow, the 4x100m is tomorrow too. It fuels me on for the rest of the week.

“I’m gutted for Duncan just missing out on the medal – he deserves it more than anyone. That bodes really well for our 4x200m.”

Scott added: “I don’t really know what to say. Fourth is a horrible place to come. Several hundredths of a second away from winning a medal, or even better.

“I was buzzing going into that, had really good fun in there, and looking back I maybe should have pushed it on a bit earlier. It was really tight, came down to the finish and I didn’t quite have it today.

“Matt has finished second, so that is a great result for him. World champion last year, silver this year at the Olympics, unbelievable.”

Freya just misses out

Colbert said she went into the Women’s 400m Individual medley final in a confident mood but admitted it wasn’t her day.

Only 24 hours after watching Max Litchfield finish fourth in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley for the third successive Olympic Games, Colbert clocked 4:35.67 to achieve the same position.

She was 0.74 seconds adrift of America’s Emma Weyant, who won the bronze, while Canada’s Summer McIntosh was the clear winner, triumphing by 5.69 seconds from USA’s Katie Grimes.

Colbert said: “I was really confident in my training coming into this and I felt I was in a good position to do a PB.

“With the way the meet had gone, we knew it might be a case of who can get the hand on the wall first instead of the times. Today that just wasn’t me.

“I hope I don’t have the curse that Max does. After watching that yesterday, it was such an emotional final session for the whole group. 

“Fourth at his third Olympics having trained every day with him and seeing all the work that’s he puts in it was really disappointing.

“I wanted to win that medal for both of us tonight – we’ll just have to keep pushing next time.

“I was looking for a high on the first day of racing but I will continue searching as we go through the week. I love swimming the relay and us girls are all really excited, trust in our training and all feel like we have got a lot to give.”

Katie Shanahan finished in seventh place in a time of 4:40.17.

Angharad looking forward

Evans said she was looking forward to the next chapter of her international career after taking sixth place in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke final.

The Cambridge-born 21-year-old was third at the halfway stage but finished 0.26 outside the medals in her first Olympic final as she clocked 1:05.85.

That was narrowly outside her British record of 1:05.54 – but Evans was looking forward to building on the experience of competing in Paris.

She said: “It’s my first year of swimming internationally in the senior team and I felt a lot of pressure there but I controlled it and swam the race a little differently and went out a bit faster.

“Yesterday, me and my coach spoke about me going out a bit too slowly. This is just experience for me and I’m looking forward to my next chapter.”

More to come from Morgan

Ollie Morgan said he was slightly disappointed with his eighth place finish in the Men’s 100m Backstroke – but said it was a positive sign of the progress he has made in his fledgling career.

As a relative newcomer on the international scene, reaching a final on his Olympic Games debut is a magnificent achievement and Morgan believes there is more to come from him.

He was also just outside his own British record as he finished in a time of 52.85.

Morgan said: “I’m coming away with eighth at the Olympics and I’m slightly disappointed in myself.

“It shows how far we have come. There’s a lot more to come in the future.

“My whole ethos around training and competing is enjoyment. Turning up to training having fun and pushing yourself and pushing those around you.

“We have a really good environment that I’m training in at the moment so it’s really exciting to see what I can do.”

Both Morgan and Evans are expected to play a role for Team GB later in the week in the medley relays.