Tokyo (AFP)
Great Britain largely dominated the men's 4x200m freestyle relay ahead of Russia and Australia, with the United States only finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.
In 6:58:58, the British set a new European record and fell just three hundredths of a second off the world record to overtake the Russians (7: 01.81), under neutral flag, and the Australians (7: 01.84 ).
Great Britain was carried by its two medalists in Tuesday's 200m freestyle, Tom Dean (gold) and Duncan Scott (silver), supported by James Guy and Matthew Richards.
Vice-Olympic champions in 2016 behind the United States, the British won the first title in their history in this discipline.
The winners were however less well off than the Americans, perfectly launched by Kieran Smith, before returning with the 2nd torchbearer James Guy, then widening the gap with Matthew Richards.
Without the star Caeleb Dressel who, unsurprisingly, did not add the 4x200m to its already extensive program, the United States collapsed: this is the first time in Olympic history that they have participated in the Olympic Games without climb on the podium of the discipline (they were absent from the Boycott Games in Moscow in 1980).
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