Glory for Britain's swimmers as Duncan Scott 'hacks' his way to victory and Freya Anderson stars again

It was one to remember for the Brits at Tollcross on Tuesday.

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Getty Images

It was a memorable end to day five of the action at Tollcross International Swimming Centre as Great Britain landed two gold medals in dramatic fashion.

First, Duncan Scott (GBR) won the 200m freestyle despite having qualified slowest of the eight finalists. "I was just hacking away and hoping. I didn’t know what was happening with the rest of the field," said the popular Glaswegian.

A few minutes later Britain won the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in a thrilling finish, with 17-year-old Freya Anderson again the star as she overtook Anastasia Guzhenkova (RUS) in the last 30 metres.

On Monday, Anderson had held on for victory in the last leg of the mixed medley relay despite being challenged by the strong-finishing Russian Vladimir Morozov.

Just over an hour before Tuesday's relay, Anderson had qualified for the 100m freestyle final. "I was hurting a bit," said the swimmer, who had qualified for the 100m freestyle final just over an hour before Tuesday's relay. "But you just have to do it for the team. I had to fend off a few of the other countries and get my head down."

Russia remain top of the medals table after they picked up golds through Yuliya Efimova in the 200m breaststroke and Anastasia Fesikova in the 100m backstroke.

Simona Quadarella (ITA) was in tears after swimming another personal best to land her second gold, following up Sunday's 800m freestyle win with victory in the 1500m.

The longest race of the Championships was followed immediately by the quickest so far, the men’s 50m butterfly, won by world record holder Andriy Govorov (UKR).

It was also an evening of surprises, with Olympic 50m freestyle Champion Pernille Blume (DEN) failing to qualify for the 100m freestyle final, and Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), already a triple gold medallist at Glasgow 2018, missing out on the 200m backstroke final under the two-per-nation rule. Fellow Russians Evgeny Rylov and Grigory Tarasevich were ahead of him.

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