Tokyo Olympics: Joy for Team GB as swimming and triathlon relay teams bag gold

Great Britain's Adam Peaty, James Guy, Anna Hopkin and Kathleen Dawson receive their Gold medals for the Mixed 4 x 100m medley relay during the swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Great Britain's Adam Peaty, James Guy, Anna Hopkin and Kathleen Dawson receive their Gold medals for the Mixed 4 x 100m medley relay during the swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Adam Davy
Charlie Bayliss

By Charlie Bayliss


Published: 31/07/2021

- 05:19

Updated: 31/07/2021

- 05:21

Gold in the mixed 4x100 mixed medley relay saw Team GB equal their all-time medal haul in the swimming pool - set in 1908

Team GB added to their impressive medal hauls overnight in the swimming and triathlon with gold in inaugural relay events.

Gold in the inaugural mixed 4x100m medley relay in a new world record time saw Britain equal their best ever medal haul in the swimming pool, equalling their total from 1908 with the chance of more medals on Saturday and Sunday.


The quartet of Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Freya Anderson were more than two seconds clear of the rest of the field in the heats, setting a new European record, and Team GB eased to victory on Saturday morning.

Great Britain's Adam Peaty and James Guy celebrate winning the Mixed 4100 metres medley relay during the swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Great Britain's Adam Peaty and James Guy celebrate winning the Mixed 4100 metres medley relay during the swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Adam Davy

Anna Hopkin replaced Anderson for the final freestyle leg here and touched out in three minutes and 37.58 seconds for Britain’s fourth gold of Tokyo 2020 and seventh gong overall – matching their tally from London 1908.

The time was 0.83 seconds better than the previous best benchmark of 3mins and 38.41ecs – set by China last year – while they finished 1.28secs clear of China, with Australia taking bronze.

Team GB has now won seven medals in the swimming at Tokyo 2020 - four gold, two silver, and one bronze - matching a tally last seen at the 1908 Olympics in London.

Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee, Alex Yee, Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor Brown celebrate gold in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at Odaiba Marine Park on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee, Alex Yee, Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor Brown celebrate gold in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at Odaiba Marine Park on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Danny Lawson

The 4x100m mixed medley relay is a new event at the games, which sees two male and two female swimmers combine to form a team. Each swimmer swims a 100m leg in one of the four main swimming strokes: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Britain's superstar Adam

Peaty said: “It’s amazing to be a part of this with these amazing women and Jimmy, and it’s just incredible.”

And Guy, who had withdrawn from the individual butterfly event, added: “It was a very hard choice, training for so long to do my individual race and to be told the day before you had to pull out, I was really upset, I was crying again obviously! But it has paid off. It was worth not doing the butterfly cos I don’t think I’d have done that time. It’s paid off.”

Great Britain's Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown Jessica Learmonth and Jonathan Brownlee on the podium with the gold medal for the Triathlon Mixed Relay at Odaiba Marine Park on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Great Britain's Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown Jessica Learmonth and Jonathan Brownlee on the podium with the gold medal for the Triathlon Mixed Relay at Odaiba Marine Park on the eighth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021.
Danny Lawson

And in the inaugural mixed triathlon event, the team of Jess Learmonth, Jonny Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee helped Team GB to first place. For Brownlee, it was the only colour of medal missing from his collection having won silver and bronze in the triathlon at the last two Games.

Darryl Taylor, father of Taylor-Brown and a former middle-distance runner for England, posted a picture on Instagram of the team welcoming Yee over the line captioned “What a race by team GB”.

The win means GB finished top of the medal table for the triathlon, with their gold in the team and two silvers in the men’s and women’s races for Yee and Taylor-Brown respectively.

Speaking after the race, Brownlee told the BBC: “The Olympics, I’ve completed it!

“It feels absolutely amazing. “It’s my third Olympics and I finally walk away with gold.”

Alistair Brownlee, brother of Jonny, won golds at the London and Rio Games in the triathlon and posted a picture of the quartet with their medals to his Instagram story.

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