Scott breaks Team GB record after 4x100m medley silver

They finish third in the swimming medal table for these Games, behind the United States and Australia, their joint-best result by position since 1924.

Great Britain had been hoping for a fifth gold in the final event, but were ultimately outdone by a superb butterfly leg from the USA’s Caeleb Dressel, who also won the 50m freestyle and finished with five medals at these Games.

Meanwhile, Australian superstar Emma McKeon became only the second woman ever to win seven medals at a single Olympics with victories in the women’s 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay.

Great Britain’s other finalists, Ben Proud in the 50m freestyle and Daniel Jervis in the 1500m freestyle, finished in fifth place.

If equality was an Olympic sport, Britain would be at the top of the medal table this weekend.

Team GB notched up two golds within three hours of one another yesterday after winning inaugural mixed relays in triathlon and swimming, and setting a new world record in the pool at the Tokyo Games.

In a day of changing fortunes, the nation’s athletes also bagged bronze medals in women’s windsurfing and boxing, and are in pole position in the team dressage event.

However, Britain’s best prospect of a medal in the women’s sprints for more than 60 years vanished when Dina Asher-Smith, 25, the poster girl of UK athletics, failed to qualify for the 100m final. She later pulled out of the 200m competition after tearfully admitting she had been secretly carrying a hamstring injury for the past month.

“I’m so disappointed to not make the final because it’s Tokyo 2020,” she said. “It’s everything I’ve trained for over the past two years, but the last few weeks of my life have been absolutely insane.”

Mixed events have been introduced in seven sports for the first time at these Games, partly to even out the number of medals for which women can compete. Britain immediately capitalised on the move.

Alex Yee, 23, of Brockley, southeast London, who won silver in the men’s triathlon on his Olympic debut last Monday, brought home the gold for Team GB in the mixed relay just before 1am British time ahead of the US and France.

The first stage of the four-leg event — which saw each competitor swimming, cycling and running over a shorter distance than normal — was raced by Jess Learmonth, 33, of Leeds. She was followed by Jonny Brownlee, 31, also of Leeds, and Mancunian Georgia Taylor-Brown, 27, who had already won a silver medal in the women’s triathlon.

For Brownlee, it was a fitting ending to an Olympic career that won him a bronze in the men’s event at the London 2012 Games, followed by silver in Rio de Janeiro four years later. His older brother, Alistair, beat him to gold at both Olympics.

In Tokyo, Jonny came fifth in the individual triathlon. “It’s about time!” he said after the race. “I keep on trying to get gold medals; Alistair’s won two so far and to go home with one and get towards matching him is super-special. And it’s also the first ever mixed team relay in triathlon, so we’ve made history in that.”

Less than three hours later at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Adam Peaty, the two-time Olympic men’s 100m breaststroke champion, helped Team GB clinch gold in the first mixed 4x100m medley relay final.

Unlike the mixed triathlon, which saw women and men competing against someone of the same sex, the swimming relay allowed men and women to race against one another over each 100m stretch. It meant that Kathleen Dawson, 23, of Warrington — who slipped off the wall at the start of the first backstroke leg — was pitted against four men, including Ryan Murphy, a former US Olympic champion. “I wasn’t going to let them bully me; I was going to swim my own race and it didn’t matter if it was two guys or two girls I was up against,” Dawson said afterwards.

Peaty, 26, of Uttoxeter, and James Guy, 25, from Bury, propelled Britain back into the lead over the next two legs. Anna Hopkin, 25, of Chorley, completed the relay to screams of joy from her team-mates as a new world record of 3mins 37.58 secs was set.

Peaty and Guy, who swims the butterfly, are likely to be on course for a hat-trick of gold medals when they take part in the men’s 4x100m medley today.

Duncan Scott, 24, of Glasgow, will hope to make history in that race. The swimmer has won a gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay in Tokyo and two individual silvers. A fourth medal will make him Britain’s most successful Olympian at a single Games, beating cycling giants such as Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins.

Dina Asher-Smith revealed that she had been carrying a hamstring injury for the past month

DIEGO AZUBEL/EPA

Sir Andy Murray, the former Wimbledon champion, suggested athletes should be allowed to compete in more mixed events. “How good are mixed events in sport?” he tweeted. “They are a huge asset and so many sports miss a trick not supporting/promoting them more. #olympics @TeamGB”

Daryll Neita, 24, from London, qualified for the 100m final. She came in eighth place after the Jamaicans took a clean sweep of the medals, with gold for Elaine Thompson-Herah.

Earlier in the day, Emma Wilson, 22, of Christchurch, won a bronze medal for Britain in the women’s windsurfing event.

Karriss Artingstall, 26, who serves in the British Army, won bronze in the women’s featherweight boxing competition.

Lauren Price, 27, from south Wales, is guaranteed a medal after making it through to the semi-finals of the middleweight category.