'Gutted' Duncan Scott laments swimming silver despite historic Tokyo medal haul

From Charlie Bennett in Tokyo

History-maker Duncan Scott is the first British swimmer in 93 years to win three medals at one Olympics – but was left rueing another individual silver.

The Glasgow star finished second in the 200m individual medley to add to the 200m freestyle silver he won on Tuesday, when he was narrowly beaten by Team GB teammate Tom Dean.

Scott did win gold as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay and could still become the first British athlete in history to win four medals at one Games in the 4x100m medley relay this weekend.

But his wait for an individual Olympic gold goes on after he was narrowly beaten by China’s Shun Wang, despite swimming a new personal best.

Asked what he thought of the result, he said: “I don’t have any PG words right now.

“I think initially I am just really gutted, the times at this meet in an Olympic final almost go out of the window for me.

“But I have even had enough time to think about it a little bit more and let it sink in and it was a massive PB again.

“I have dropped over a second and a half in this event this year, I am learning about it a lot and I did a Worlds final, Commonwealth Games and now this one.

“I can hold my head high. It’s just not enough again.”

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A freestyle specialist, Scott always finishes strong in the individual medley but he looked out of it at halfway as he languished in sixth.

He improved to fifth after breaststroke and with 50m to go, he set about reeling in the leader Michael Andrews.

The American faded badly as the chasing pack went past him, with Scott just edged out to gold by 0.28s by Wang.

“I have not got time to reflect on the medals, I will evaluate it at the end of the week. I have got a couple of important things to do for relays now and will do what I can there where possible,” he added.

“No many swimmers have a better PB than me in this event now. It was a field with everything, so it was a special race to be a part of.

“We have a great opportunity in the pool, the 4x100 medley is looking great and I really enjoy doing it with those guys. It’s special, I am really looking forward to that.”

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