European Championships: Britain Win Gold In Mixed 4×200 Relay As Freya Anderson Claims Sixth Medal
Britain won the mixed 4×200 freestyle relay as Freya Anderson made her sixth trip to the podium at the European Championships in Rome.
Anderson pulled clear of Lucile Tessariol of France on the final 50 to anchor the quartet of Olympic 200 free champion Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Freya Colbert to gold in 7:28.16.
France were second in 7:29.25 with Italy third in 7:31.85.
Dean led Britain off in 1:46.15 and handed over in first place ahead of Stefano di Cola of Italy (1:47.00) with Hadrien Salvan of France third in 1:47.63.
Richards (1:46.91) pulled away on the fourth 50 and handed over to Colbert ahead of France who had Charlotte Bonnet on the third leg, the 2018 individual champion moving on to the teenager’s shoulder and edging ahead.
The Briton, however, hit back and handed over to Anderson with a 0.20 lead with the race now a head to head between her and Lucile Tessariol.
Tessariol went ahead but the pair went stroke for stroke down the penultimate length before Anderson kicked hard off the wall and went into a clear lead she never looked like relinquishing for victory.
Dean said:
“We were the reigning champions since we won Budapest last year and we came here to defend our title.
“A lot of us gave up our individual events for this relay, for our mates, for Great Britain. A huge team is behind us and we are very grateful for them.”
Wissam-Amazigh Yebba, who swam the second leg for France in 1:46.53, said:
“I want to say a big thank to Gulia (Rossi-Bene) and Roman (Fuchs) who competed in the heats.
“I’m super happy for this medal. The hard work the team has done paid off. I also want to thank the coaching staff for everything they have done to support us.”
Antonietta Cesarano, who swam the anchor for Italy, added:
“I’m thrilled, I wasn’t expecting this. I did 1:58.4 and I’m really happy with that split.
“The cheering from the stands really helped us to give us our absolute maximum, even though we are all tired at the end of this tiring season.”
