Olympic swimming: Leon Marchand wins his fourth gold medal, while Duncan Scott and Ben Proud take silver

Scott’s silver medal also takes him ahead of Sir Chris Hoy as Scotland’s most decorated Olympian. He is now level with Sir Bradley Wiggins, with only Sir Jason Kenny ahead of the British list in terms of total medals.

He then paid tribute to Marchand, who deprived him of what would have been a long-awaited first individual gold medal, in addition to the 4x200m freestyle relay golds won in Tokyo and earlier this week in Paris.

“He showed all his class, he’s very fast,” Scott said. “He just kept up a very busy schedule for him – it was special to compete against him.

“It’s a great way to end your individual events.”

Proud’s Olympic past has been marked by near misses.

The man who was born in England but grew up in Malaysia before returning to the UK and then training in Turkey finished fourth at the Rio Olympics and fifth in Tokyo.

Proud considered his future in the sport after these Tokyo Games but then went on to win the world title in 2022 – a reward for, like Scott, one of Britain’s most respected and admired swimmers.

As ever, the margins were slim in the race known as the ‘Splash and Dash’ with McEvoy, himself in his fourth Games, holding the stronger hold to become the first Australian to win the title.

“Being second behind Cam seems like the most fitting thing,” Proud said. “The cherry on the cake is sharing the podium with Florent because we share the same coach.

“I could look back and see things I could have changed, but in reality it was probably the best swim I’ve ever had in a championship final.”

The silver medals take the British team to five swimming medals in Paris – one gold and four silver – but they will have high hopes of further success in the men’s and mixed 4x100m medley relays over the final two days of competition.