Duncan Scott admits his Olympic opponents proved simply too hot to handle after narrowly missing out on a medal in Paris.

Britain’s most decorated swimmer at the Games, 27, was pipped to men’s 200m freestyle bronze by an agonising 0.08s last night as British teammate Matt Richards, 21, clinched a ‘devastating’ silver behind Romanian David Popovici by the barest of margins.

Hardly anything could separate Popovici, Richards, bronze medallist Luke Hobson and Scott in a heart-thumping finale and despite the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist in the event emptying the tank, it was American Hobson who touched the wall first to snatch a spot on the Parisian podium.

Three years ago in the Japanese capital, Scott’s hopes of glory were dashed in similarly dramatic fashion as fellow Team GB star Tom Dean – who failed to qualify to defend his title at this Games – grabbed a sensational gold.

And despite harbouring genuine hopes of going one better in France, a ‘high quality’ field simply proved too strong.

Precocious Popovici, 19, is a two-time world individual champion who goes by the self-labelled nickname of the ‘Chlorine Daddy’ and firmly lived up to that billing at a raucous at La Defense Arena.

Richards produced a scintillating swim out in lane one to give red-hot favourite a real scare and despite thinking he touched the wall first, it was Popovici who clinched it by just 0.02s.

Scott, positioned favourably in lane five, concedes the choppy conditions may have played a role but hailed his opponents after a battle for the ages under the Monday night lights.

“I’m pretty disappointed as you can probably imagine,” he said.

“Fourth is pretty tough for anyone, I’m really happy for Matt but I’ve not actually seen him yet as we’re on different sides of the media.

“It’s pretty cool for him, outside on lane one getting silver.

“I think I maybe got caught in the middle of stuff but it is what it is in the end, so close again three years later.

“There's some real quality in there and it’s a real high quality 200m free field – I really thought I could have done something in that tonight.

“Maybe I saw myself as a little of an underdog tonight whereas last time I was a bit more of a favourite, I thought I executed pretty well there, maybe lost my stroke a little bit on the last 25m.

“Fourth, but hats off to those three boys are it’s really well deserved.”

Duncan Scott will race again in the 200m IM and 4x200m relay.Duncan Scott will race again in the 200m IM and 4x200m relay. (Image: Sam Mellish)

Scott, whose four medals in Tokyo made him the most decorated British athlete at a single Olympics, will now turn his attention to the 200m individual medley and relay events here in Paris.

And he added: “I’ve been coming back strong this whole year so I’ve got to use that as an advantage, but it’s a pretty tough one to swallow.

“I’ve got 4x200m [relay] next so I’ll look ahead to that.”

As for Richards, he vowed to use his heartbreaking silver as a crucial learning curve and accepts full responsibility for not clawing his way over the line.

Despite initially thinking he’d edged the thrilling encounter, he did not put enough pressure on the pool’s perimeter meaning Popovic grabbed gold.

Richards, who was crowned world champion over the distance at the age of just 20 in Fukuoka last year, believes suffering heartbreak from his ‘technical’ shortcomings can benefit him in the future as he now prepares to climb one step higher on the rostrum in the individual 100m freestyle event.

"I'm over the moon but devastated at the same time,” he said.

"If anything I think that the silver is fantastic – it has made me hungry for more.

“An individual Olympic silver medal is massive for me – it’s something that I’ve dreamt of since I was a little boy.

“I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t dreaming of being one step higher on the podium, but tonight it wasn’t meant to be.

“There’s lots of lessons I can learn from the racing – I loved every minute of that tonight and it was a proper dogfight.

“It felt like [I touched the wall first] – I did think I’d done enough, but it’s not a sport of subjection and black and white, it’s down to numbers.

“That’s down to my finish and technical ability to get the pressure into the wall.

“That’s something that I’ve got to work on, go back, learn from, improve on and make sure it doesn’t’ happen again.”

Katie Shanahan revelled in her Olympic experience after a seventh-place finish in the women’s 400m individual medley final.

The Scot, 20, qualified by the skin of her teeth in the morning session but was unable to challenge for a medal as British teammate Freya Colbert narrowly missed out in fourth.

“It was insane with all the noise,” she said.

“You can see all the seats round in this arena and it just goes on and on all the way up – it’s really, really cool.”

Earlier in the day, fellow Scot Kathleen Dawson fell short of qualifying for the women’s 100m backstroke final with a fifth-place finish in her heat.

Dawson, part of the team that claimed 4x100m freestyle relay gold in Tokyo, clocked a time 0.16s quicker than British teammate Medi Harris but was unable to do enough of keeping her medal hopes alive.

The 26-year-old said, who will now pivot her attention towards the relay, said: “I’ve come this far to make the Olympics again, and I absolutely love swimming – why not just go out and enjoy myself?

“It’s not the end of the world and I know I gave it everything I had.”

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