Great Britain's 4x200m freestyle Olympic champions, extended their golden era with yet another World title here in Singapore this evening a baton of three 1:45s handed to anchor Duncan Scott, who turned a five-way fight into a  sixth major global honour in eight times of asking since 2015.

The eight-times Olympic medallist and Britain teammates Matt Richards, James Guy and Jack McMillan won by more than a second, in 6:59.84, over China and Australia, the mighty USA and Korea locked out. The last time the Americans missed the medals was 1998.

All four Brits played a winning card, but It was Scott's ace that demolished the tactical plan the Americans had bargained on in their bid to be top dog again after decades of dominance before Britain's ascendancy.

First in was Richards. He'd had a challenging week, his solo 200m flowing in heats, the semi far less so. It was just "not clicking", as he put it. With his brothers in the strong brew of relay ambition, he put in his best effort of the week: 1:45.37. Three men later, the clock stopped, Richards' dad sent out the tweet of the day:

Richards, a teenager when he raced to gold with Tom Dean, Guy and Scott in Tokyo, and now a married man, handed the lead over to Guy, the most decorated of Britain's big relay haulers, with 14 global and 9 European medals in the vault for Britain, including three Olympic golds and, now, six World titles.

A 1:44.9 in the bag in heats just to make sure that he was among those heading to the showdown, Guy made it a 1:45.00 in the final. Swift, solid and smooth, the proven forces of training partners Richards and Guy, working under the guidance of coach Ryan Livingstone at the Manchester performance unit, had put and then kept Britain at the helm of pace.

Then came the newcomer to a final in British colours. McMillan swam heats in Paris and has an Olympic gold in the vault. He now has a World title to sit alongside it. Caught by Hobson by the 100m mark of their leg, Scott's training partner under the guidance of Ben Higson at Stirling's performance centre, now that Steven Tigg has moved on an up to take on the role of Britain head coach, dug deeper and refused to let anyone else past. Hobson and a 1:43.45 split passed to Rex Maurer 0.6sec ahead of McMillan to Scott.

It was then that the race dynamic changed, or rather was force to change.

Scott summed up the challenge as he saw it when he said after battle:

"No matter what way we swim it, they're trying to get at us, America has an eye on us, and we’ve got a big target on our backs now" that Britain is sitting on so much gold.

Having watched his mates keep all at bay barring Hobson, Scott made his choice: his ace would be an unexpected turn of sprint speed on the first of his four lengths.

Maurer's 0.6sec advantage over Britain was only a fraction larger over Australia, China and Korea.

If many thought the race was anyone's at that point, Scott wasn't one of them. He's made an art of relay war out of spotting the strengths and weaknesses of the different types of rivals nations send in to test him.

On this occasion, in lane 4, he needed to achieve two things rapidly: catch the U.S. over in lane 7, and get away from Australian Max Giuliani and Korean Hwang Sunwoo either side of Britain, "so they can’t get on my wave or try and get all that clear water." 

Scott later said his plan had been "executed pretty well".

Try ... brilliantly. He sped down the first of his four lengths with such fury that he had his feet on the wall at the turn 0.03sec shy of Maurer's. Many would not have the confidence to risk an opening sprint like that for fear of being mowed down by fresher rivals in the closing metres of a 200m race. 

Fear is not something that appears to afflict Scott and his 4x200m teammates when they band together, and success breeds confidence. There's also a clear understanding of the nature of tides: they turn, and so, the job is never done.

Not fear, but nerves are with them always, in both sense, as in 'the nerve to get stuck in' and 'the nervousness' that accompanies great challenges. As Scott put it:

"I was really nervous on the blocks. It was so tight, but down that last 50, Jack really got back on terms, had a strong finish and delivered a strong handover... It's really difficult because everyone is looking at us to see if they can get on our weave and see what moves we make and how we swim it. It's so difficult to do it once (win), but to do I back-to-back is o win one is really challenging, to do it back-to-back (Paris, then Singapore) ... I think we need to be really proud of that. That was a great swim from us."

Scott, who anchored both of Britain's Olympic-gold relays, Tokyo and Paris, Scott leapt from the water win the message that will fuel the 4x200 crew all the way to LA2028: "I said it to the boys - we can’t think this is normal, this is pretty special."

The winning 6mins 59.84 gave Britain its fourth entry in the all-time top 5 textile-suit performances in the 4x200, the U.S. the owner of the fourth fastest of them, from victory in London 2012 with the mighty Michael Phelps in the water. The World record is stuck in a shiny suit and no-one's managed to pop it yet. They will. Meanwhile, 6:58.55 is where it's at ... and this is where Britain has got to on the clock and on the biggest occasions in the past decade of progress:

Back with the team, the high fives turned to a high six: Tom Dean, Olympic 200m champion and lead in the victorious 4x200m in Tokyo four years ago and then relay champion again in Paris, and newcomer Evan Jones raced in the heats so that Scot and Richards could conserve their energy for the showdown. 

All four finalists emphasised the importance of McMillan’s first final, not just as motivation for Dean to get back to best, but because all the Olympic champions who raced the finals, Guy the most decorated opfg them with 14 global podiums and nine European medals for Britain since 2015, were once the next wave cutting their teeth in heats. 

“We can't take it for granted at all, because it's so hard fought for and everyone's kind of looking at us now and challenging us,” says Scott. “After a couple of months or a couple of weeks, the boys are going to get back to it and we're going to start looking at what we can do for next year.”

This year, the scores are up in lights. History. It shows a blanket finish behind Great Britain, with 2024 champions in the absence of a full line-up of contenders at he intercalated event in Doha, China, its 7:00.91 an Asian record, and Australia split by 0.07, the USA 0.26 from the podium and Korea a second away.

What a race, what a bull run for the Brits:

The Result:

Getting back to that U.S. miss in 1998, the podium was AUS, NED and a GBR quartet that represented the dawn of a new era, the very source and start of trying to build a unit that would remind Britain of the days of Alan McClatchey, Brian Brinkley, Gordon Downie and David Dunne, Olympic bronze medallists of 1976, 68 years after the first and last time that Great Britain claimed Olympic gold in the event, Henry Taylor to the fore.

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Perth 1998

A touch more on the thread of history tomorrow, when we'll bring you what all four British finalists and champions had to say this evening. Here's a little of it:

James Guy was first to the mike and, asked how I felt to win again, he said:

Happy! Coming here and winning the gold again a year after Paris is very, very special. Tom and Evan played their part for the team this morning. The gaps got a lot closer since last year ... and so, to hold our own in that kind of environment, and to win is very, very nice.

Matt Richards (more from him later, after we spoke in the mixed zone ion the cusp of deadline that gave not time for subscribing and scribbling all at once), was asked what was going through his head before leading Great Britain into the fray:

"Just to get the job done. This week, the 200 free hadn't quite gone the way I would have liked; it wasn't quite clicking, but it was really important for me to put in my best performance of the week in that events tonight and do it for the boys this evening and the guys this morning."

And Jack McMillan, asked about his last 50, when he clawed back small deficits to get his hand to the wall with a (2) next o his name, as closest man to Hosbon handing to Maurer.

"We all had our own plans and processes for the race and for me it was just getting in and doing what I had to do, to have a strong finish for Duncan and get him [in a good position].

More to come on this story when the championships are done. It's an epic tale that need more telling beyond the rush of Worlds...

Worth, however, noting this career, of James Guy, not a single year, barring Covid 2020, of course, between 2014 ands 2025 without honours for GBR (and England)

All courses tally for Great Britain:

🥇 OLYMPIC GAMES: 6 medals

• Gold: 4
• Silver: 2
• Bronze: 0

🌍 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 13 medals

• Gold: 8
• Silver: 4
• Bronze: 1

🇪🇺 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: 15 medals

• Gold: 10
• Silver: 3
• Bronze: 2

📊 COMBINED TOTALS:

• Gold: 22
• Silver: 9
• Bronze: 3
• GRAND TOTAL: 34 medals

🏊‍♂️ James Guy (GBR) - Medal History In Full