PARIS: Britain won both the men’s and women’s 4x200m freestyle relays on the opening day of the European swimming championships on Monday as French swim star Leon Marchand took silver with his team as he returns from injury.

The four-woman British team of Freya Colbert, Abbie Wood, Leah Schlosshan and Freya Anderson crushed their rivals and narrowly missed out on the continental record with their time of 7min 45.93sec.

Behind them, the battle for the podium was tight between Hungary, Germany and Russia.

Ultimately the Hungarian women took silver in 7:49.09, ahead of Russia, competing under a neutral flag (7:49.13). The German women missed the podium by a hundredth of a second.

Moments later, the British men emulated their compatriots by winning gold in 7:01.52, thanks to Matthew Richards, Jack McMillan, James Guy and Duncan Scott.

France were spurred on by the home crowd and four-time Olympic champion Marchand, but finished second in 7:02.23. The bronze medal went to Germany (7:02.28).

“It’s my first European medal and a team one as well, so it’s cool, I’m happy,” said Marchand.

“I was a bit nervous about going first, as it was a first for me. Plus I wasn’t quite sure where I stood in terms of form, so this was reassuring.”

Earlier Russia’s Ilia Borodin took the men’s 4x200m freestyle gold as Olympic and world champion Marchand skipped that event.

Borodin clocked 4:08.17 with Italy’s Alberto Razzetti taking silver in 4:10.40. Britain’s Max Litchfield won bronze in 4:11.58.

The 23-year-old Borodin, competing as a neutral athlete as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, had won bronze at the world championships in Singapore last year.

A major rival of Marchand during their junior careers, Borodin would undoubtedly have welcomed the chance to face the world record holder (4:02.50) in the event.

However, the Frenchman has been forced to cut back on his events this week because of a lingering thigh injury that severely hinders his ability to swim the breaststroke.

Marchand is entered, however, in the 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle, and the relays with the French team.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2026