I thought I’d got it – Matt Richards after narrowly missing out on swimming gold

Matt Richards defied being in an outside lane to claim Olympic silver in the men’s 200 metres freestyle – but he missed out on gold by an agonising two-hundredths of a second.

Richards claimed Team GB’s second runner-up spot of these Paris Games in the pool but like Adam Peaty 24 hours earlier, he was 0.02 seconds adrift of the winner – Romanian sensation David Popovici.

Duncan Scott, who won silver in the event at Tokyo 2020, finished fourth in a frenetic finish to the final at La Defense Arena, just 0.08 secs adrift of bronze medallist Luke Hobson.

Richards was second at halfway and behind only Lukas Mertens, who was seeking a freestyle double after winning the 400m and led for three-quarters of the race before running out of steam and finishing fifth.

The 21-year-old Richards did not fade down the stretch despite the odds being against him from lane one, having qualified seventh fastest in the semi-finals, but he was just edged out by Popovici.

“I thought I had got it,” Richards told the BBC. “It felt as if I had touched it first. The time says differently. It is not a sport that is up for debate, it is black and white.

“I can’t be too disappointed with that. My first individual at an Olympic games so to come away with a silver is great. But to be two one hundredths off gold is excruciatingly frustrating.

“It wasn’t my best finish, I would be lying if I said it was fantastic. We move on, we get better and try to get it next time.”

Richards, who qualified for this event at the expense of defending Olympic champion Tom Dean, claimed Team GB’s sixth medal on Monday, moments after Freya Colbert missed out on a podium position of her own, finishing fourth in the women’s 400m individual medley.

Colbert was in bronze position with 100m to go but Emma Weyant overhauled her in the freestyle leg as 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh, dubbed swimming’s next superstar, claimed her first Olympic gold medal.