Great Britain dominated the opening day of the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, bringing home three medals. The men’s and women’s 4x200m freestyle relay teams both claimed gold, while Max Litchfield secured a bronze medal in the men’s 400m individual medley.
In the men’s relay final, the quartet of James Guy, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards, and Belfast swimmer Jack McMillan clocked a time of 7:01.52. They finished ahead of France, who took silver, and Germany, who earned bronze. The women’s side also found success as Freya Anderson, Leah Schlosshan, Abbie Wood, and Freya Colbert reached the top of the podium with a time of 7:45.93, finishing ahead of Hungary and the Neutral Athletes team.
Max Litchfield finished third in the 400m individual medley final with a time of 4:11.58. The event was won by Ilia Borodin, who set a new championship record of 4:08.17, with Italy’s Alberto Razzetti taking second.
Irish swimmer Jack Kelly set two new national records in the 100m breaststroke on Monday. His semi-final time of 58.90 allowed him to qualify for Tuesday’s final, where he will compete against top swimmers including Great Britain’s Adam Peaty. Meanwhile, Belfast’s Lottie Cullen fell short of the 200m backstroke final despite recording a personal best time of 2:12.22 in her semi-final heat.
