British swimming team smashed the world record to win the first-ever Olympic 4x100m mixed medley relay on Saturday as Caeleb Dressel set a new 100m butterfly world record to grab his third gold medal in Tokyo and Katie Ledecky reinforced her dominance of distance swimming with a third Olympic 800m freestyle title.
Britain have now won seven swimming medals in Tokyo, including four golds, two silvers and a bronze, matching their greatest ever medal haul at an Olympics, last achieved in 1908.
The four-strong mixed relay team of Kathleen Dawson, Peaty, James Guy and Anna Hopkin touched in 3min 37.58sec to break the previous world record of 3:38.41 set by China in Qingdao last year.
The Chinese were second in 3:38.86 and Australia third in 3:38.95. The Caeleb Dressel-led United States were relegated to fifth.
Dressel had earlier broken the world record to win his third sprint gold in the 100m butterfly but Britain’s Hopkin was too far in front and she held off the American to secure victory.
Two-time world champion Dressel was always going to be tough to beat, and he exploded from the blocks and turned first, roaring home in 49.45 seconds to shatter his own previous world best 49.50 set in 2019.
Hungarian 200m winner Kristof Milak was second in 49.68 – only the fourth man ever to go under 50 seconds – and Switzerland’s Noe Ponti third.
Dressel is overwhelming favourite to bag his fourth Tokyo gold in the 50m freestyle, after returning to the pool to clock 21.42 in his splash and dash semi-final.
The 24-year-old then remarkably lined up for a third race in the Olympics’ inaugural 4x100m mixed medley final. But swimming the last freestyle leg, Dressel was unable to reel in an Adam Peaty-led Britain who hit the wall in a new world record 3:37.58 – the fifth global mark set in the Tokyo pool.
The United States finished fifth, denying Dressel the chance to win yet another gold after taking out the 100m freestyle and being part of the triumphant 4x100m freestyle team. He is expected to race the meet-ending men’s 4x100m medley on Sunday.
While Dressel has become the face of the American team since Michael Phelps retired, Ledecky is on a par and she lived up to her billing yet again.
Despite losing her 200m and 400m crowns to Australian Ariarne Titmus, she remains the undisputed queen of the longer distances. Having already cleaned up the inaugural 1500m gold, she added another 800m title after winning at London in 2012 and Rio four years later.
The 24-year-old led all the way to touch in 8:12.57 and outpace Titmus, who clocked a personal best 8:13.83 to earn silver ahead of Italy’s Simona Quadarella. She leaves Tokyo with gold over 800m and 1500m and silver in the 400m and 4x200m relay.
Meanwhile, Australian backstroke star Kaylee McKeown added the 200m title to her 100m crown in an eye-popping 2:04.68 ahead of Canada’s Kylie Masse, whom she also edged into silver in the 100m final.
Seasoned Australian campaigner Emily Seebohm took bronze in her fourth Olympics.
With AFP Inputs