Tokyo: Britain won their second swimming team gold in the mixed 4x100m medley relay at the Tokyo Olympic Games in a world record time here on Saturday.
Coming from behind to clock 3:37.58 for the top prize, British swimmers Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin joined efforts to slice 0.43 seconds off the previous world record held by China.
Team China, Xu Jiayu, Yan Zibei, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan, finished in 3:38.86 for the silver, edging world champion Australia by 0.09 seconds.
Joining Britain in delivering record-breaking performance was Caeleb Dressel of the United States, who refreshed his own world record to win the men’s 100m butterfly gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Touching home in 49.45 seconds, the two-time world champion of the event cut 0.05 seconds off his previous 49.50 mark to claim his third gold in Tokyo.
Reigning European champion Kristof Milak of Hungary finished 0.23 seconds behind at 49.68 seconds, which is also a new European record.
The bronze went to Noe Ponti of Switzerland as the 20-year-old Youth Olympian clocked 50.74 in his Olympic debut.
Elsewhere on Saturday, world record holder Kathleen Ledecky of the United States added another gold to her collection, winning the women’s 800m freestyle.
The defending champion enjoyed a safe lead before touching home in eight minutes and 12.57 seconds.
This is the fourth medal for Ledecky at Tokyo 2020, as the 24-year-old freestyle specialist had her first gold at Tokyo 2020 over the 1,500m distance following two silvers.
Ariarne Titmus of Australia, gold winner in 200m and 400m freestyle, took the silver despite a late comeback effort in 8:13.83 and European champion Simona Quadarella of Italy won the bronze in 8:18.35.
Earlier at the Tokyo Aquatic Center, Kaylee McKeown claimed her second title at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the women’s 200m backstroke here on Saturday.
After a gold from 100m backstroke where she holds the world record, the 20-year-old beat leader Kylie Masse of Canada to second in the final sprint with two minutes and 04.68 seconds.
Masse took the silver 0.74 seconds behind, and the other Australian in the race, Emily Seebohm, bagged a bronze in 2:06.17.
Dressel took his third gold at the Games, he led the finalists in the men’s 50m freestyle in 21.42 seconds. Emma McKeon of Australia refreshed the Olympic record in the semifinals of the women’s 50m freestyle in 24 seconds.
