It’s more than fair to say that the men’s team have delivered the higher wave of success in the pool for Great Britain in the past decade since the interface of eras marked by the two-silvers swan song of Jazz Carlin at Rio 2016 and both the advent of a young Adam Peaty on his way to a first gold at those same Games, coupled with the rise and further rise of the nation’s 4x200m free force. 

Paris 2026 marked a shift in that pattern: this time, it was girl power that accounted for the lionesses’ share of Britain’s medal-table leading eight gold medals (and more than half the overall medals tally, too).

There were two triumphs on the last night of the championships. Keanna Macinnes, into the 2:05s for the first time, with a Scottish record of 2:05.90, over 200 ‘fly, and then, just over an hour later, another gold with teammates Lauren Cox, Angharad Evans and Freya Colbert in the 4x100m medley. All of which added up to three big outcomes, one a matter of pride in the Brit pride; another a golden outcome on the medals table in the pool; the third a win for Britain across all aquatics disciplines, with 14 golds to Italy's 13. The first two outcomes:

• Pride of the pride: “Five and half wins to the women over two and half for the men”, says Colbert after the sorority's final flurry also meant...
• Italy being blocked from toppling the Brits off their golden perch atop the medals table. The men's medley relay that followed made no difference on gold count, a 'neutral' quartet taking gold ahead off Italy, which therefore finished runner-up to Britain with two wins fewer than, at 6, in the pool.

There's was also this: those "five and a half" added up to more gold than any other single-nation male or female entity.

The last two British victories:

Macinnes Preaches What She Practiced For, Gold the Reward

Women’s 200m butterfly: Britain had never won the title before ... Keanna Macinnes is that pioneer ... and then, she went and landed a second gold, with her GBR medley relay teammates

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

When GBR Took Gold With Harri Queen Of Scots On A 1:03.75

Women’s 4x100 Medley: Victories for Keanna Macinnes and then her once more with mates in the medley relay confirmed Great Britain as the biggest hauler of gold at the European championships with eight wins, Italy closest two adrift

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

And here's what happened next but I couldn't get to until now, and, along with other material, will make it part of our review of the summer championship season:

Speaking with a big smile on her face and a second gold round her neck after the last medal ceremonies of the championships, she said: “We thought that we had a chance of making the podium, but … we had some monster splits in that relay."

Indeed! Like that 1:03.75 never seen before from Angharad Evans (or Harri Queen of Scots as teammates call her; or Harri The Hammer, as her dad Mark calls her), or anyone else in the history of 100m breaststroke splits for that matter. 

Relays are wonderful for showing a swimmer the potential they know they have. Does that not help boost confidence in for the individual?

“No,” says Harry. “Oh, right,” says I, raising an eyebrow. All laugh, but she has a serious point:

“I actually think the opposite. For me, I proved everything I wanted to in the individual 100 (1:04.87 Championship and GB record for gold) and I knew I was in the best spot of my life, so there was absolutely nothing to lose tonight. It was just about having fun, and after this it's summer holiday, so it's like we put in and leave everything in that pool and there's no losing really. And, you know, that's what me and Lauren were saying before the final, like we didn't want to let the team down, everyone had to just fight for it and that's what everyone did. Just no giving up and that's what got us that gold medal, like no one gave up at any point even when the pressure was on and it looked like we weren't going to medal, everyone fought for it and we brought back that gold medal."

Her training partner at the Stirling performance centre gave us a glimpse of something similar. She answers to a question on ‘fly, briefly (fuller replies in the 200 ‘fly reports LINK), but quickly moves to the point she wants to make :

“It's really special to be on the podium with the rest of the girls because I think the girls overall this week have shined really well in the GB team, and often it's the boys that are carrying the girls, so it's really nice to flip that for once.”

We’re shuffled along the mixed zone to make sure there’s room for the men’s medley quartets about to come round the corner. The medley quartet in a huddle once more, there’s clearly an appetite to celebrate this woman’s work and these women’s work.  

So, girl power: do you want to say something to that?

“Yeah!! I’ll say something!!” says Freya Colbert - and off she goes, like she’s leaving her blocks all over again, chasing and running down a hare:

“I think it's been such a male-dominated sport in the last couple of Olympic cycles, and so for us to come here to Paris two years on from the last Olympics and really perform as a group of girls is really, really special. We lift each other up all the time, and we only celebrate each other's successes. Hopefully that's really shown through in this week with so many relay successes, but also so many individual successes. 

“We've had British records falling left, right, and centre for the girls. And so I think the momentum that's been building all week, has led to us ending it on a high here in this relay. It’s a relay that the girls and all of us have really been working towards, bringing this medley relay down in the last few years, and it's nice to see that result come through.”

At which point, it’s helpful to mention the Britain Bounce. Before the session, we’d sat down with GBR head coach Steven Tigg - said like big, which we know for sure because to settle the matter, when doubt was raised, we’d asked the the girls whether they said tig as in big (like I did) or teeg as in league. “We just call him Tiggy,” says Harri, the tig like big, and so say all the rest, with a chuckle. Colbert adds to affectionate laughter all round:  “He's not even Steve!”

On another point of order and clarity, what exactly was...

The Britain Bounce?

Here's what Steve Tigg had to say...