Paris 2024 Olympics - Swimming - Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - July 30, 2024. James Guy of Britain, Tom Dean of Britain, Matthew Richards of Britain and Duncan Scott of Britain react after winning the race. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
PARIS (Reuters) -Britain retained their men's 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, fending off a dogged challenge by the United States at La Defense Arena.
Australia took the bronze.
The British quartet of James Guy, Tom Dean, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott clocked 6:59.43, edging the Americans by 1.35 seconds, to take Britain's first gold in the pool of the 2024 Games.
Jack McMillan and Kieran Bird, who swam in the heats, also got gold medals.
Belfast-born McMillan's gold was the second by a Northern Irish swimmer in a matter of minutes, with Magheralin's Daniel Wiffen earlier taking the 800 metre freestyle title for Ireland.
Scott's gold was a record seventh Olympic medal -- two golds and five silvers -- for a British swimmer and there was no way he was going to be caught on the last leg, while Guy swam a personal best over the opening 200 metres.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom and Alan Baldwin, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
