German ace Lukas Märtens battled valiantly in the frontline of Britain's top 4x200m Olympic-champion freestyle force in the curtain-closing 200m at the AP Race International in London this evening but even in the form of his life this season could not fight off Duncan Scott's sprint spirit. 

If the AP meet was looking for a thriller to bring its three-day meet to a worthy close, it found one in a 200m final that featured the four Brit 4x200m finalists who took gold at Tokyo2020ne and then in Paris became the first precise-same-quartet to ever retain an Olympic  relay crown in any relay back to the first chance it could have happened, in 1900.

Alongside Scott, Olympic solo 200m silver medallist in 2020ne, were Tom Dean, Olympic champion in 2020ne, Matt Richards, silver medallist at Paris 2024, James Guy, World 200m champion 10 years ago this summer, and Jack McMillan, Scott's training partner in Stirling and the heats swimmer in the Paris 4x200 who helped qualify the team with one man able to rest up and get ready for the showdown. 

Britain had one more man in the final at the London Aquatics centre today, Evan Jones, while Märtens was joined by his training partner and Germany No2 in the 400m and Olympic marathon silver medallist from Paris, Oliver Klemet.

What a race it was ...