Scots swimmers scoop relay silver in Rio for Team GB
Siobhan O'Connor and Great Britain's men's relay squad won silvers as Michael Phelps took his Olympic gold medal-winning tally to 21 in Rio on Tuesday night.
Siobhan O'Connor and Great Britain's men's relay squad won silvers as Michael Phelps took his Olympic gold medal-winning tally to 21 in Rio on Tuesday night.
O'Connor won 200 metres individual medley silver and Stephen Milne, Dan Wallace, Duncan Scott and James Guy finished runners-up to Phelps' United States in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.
Phelps had earlier claimed a dominant victory in the 200m butterfly.
The British successes took the swimming tally to one gold and three silvers on the fourth night of finals. Adam Peaty won the 100m breaststroke and Jazz Carlin was second in the 400m freestyle.
Britain's swimmers attracted criticism for winning just one silver and two bronze medals four years ago in home waters, but they have already surpassed that total and there could be more to come.
Andrew Willis qualified second fastest for the men's 200m breaststroke final on Wednesday.
Bath swimmer O'Connor was the fastest qualifier and 400m individual medley champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary withdrew from the 200m butterfly earlier on Tuesday to concentrate on the final.
Hosszu was under world record pace for much of the race and finished in two minutes 06.58 seconds, an Olympic record.
O'Connor smashed the British record to take silver in 2mins 06.88secs, while Maya Dirado of the United States was third in 2:08.79. Defending champion Ye Shiwen of China was eighth in 2:13.56.
"I didn't think I would get that close to Katinka Hosszu so I'm over the moon. It showed what determination can do," said O'Connor.
"Coming into this you know how Katinka has dominated, but coming down the final 50 I thought I might get this one.
"I'm still delighted as I did a time I didn't think I was capable of. The more you race against the best stars in the world, the more confidence you get."
Britain are world champions in the relay and qualified fastest for the final, before drafting in Guy in place of Robbie Renwick.
Guy combined with Stephen Milne, Dan Wallace and Duncan Scott to clock 7:03.13 as the USA's Phelps, Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte won in 7:00.66. Japan were third in 7:03.50. Australia were fourth.
Phelps now has three golds from three events in Rio, after winning the 4x100m freestyle on Saturday, and he has three events to come.
South African Chad le Clos shocked Phelps by winning gold ahead of his idol, in Phelps' signature event, at the London 2012 Games.
Phelps had won the title at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and reclaimed it with a block to wall victory in 1:53.36.
Masato Sakai of Japan threatened to come from behind to upset the American, finishing four one-hundredths of a second behind in second.
Hungary's Tamas Kenderesi took bronze in 1:53.62 as Le Clos finished outside the medals in fourth in 1:54.06.