As the finals session on Day 4 reached its crescendo, the Team GB relay stood ready to defend their Olympic title in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay. Lanes 3 and 5 were occupied by the formidable Team USA and the French Team, with Team GB in the centre Lane 4.
However, none of this would have been possible without the groundwork having been put in during the heats of the event. During this morning heat swim, Ulster’s very own Jack McMillan swam the second leg of the relay. McMillan, a member of Bangor Swimming Club, who trains at the University of Stirling in Scotland, took over a storming lead from James Guy who kickstarted the race, giving McMillan a 1.55 second lead over the Chinese team in Lane 5.
At the 100m mark, Jack turned in a time of 50.66 ahead of the Lithuanian team coming in hot from the outside Lane 8. Having held onto the lead in the centre lane, McMillan came home to touch the wall in a split time of 1:45.68 where he handed over to Kieran Bird.
As a result of an exceptional heat swim from the four GB men, the relay team qualified fastest in the event in a time of 7:05.11 – 0.46 seconds ahead of Team USA who qualified in second place.
After the heat swim, McMillan spoke about the team environment and the atmosphere at the venue. “The atmosphere was unbelievable, something that I’ll never forget. Obviously, the last Games was during Covid, so we didn’t really get that kind of crowd experience, so this time round it was amazing.”
When the final for the event came around that evening, the crowd eagerly watched on as more Olympic magic was about to unfold. As McMillan and Bird swam the morning session, Duncan Scott (McMillan’s training partner in Stirling) and Matthew Richards rested and consequently replaced the two men. Both Scott and Richards raced the 200m Freestyle final, where they placed 2nd (Richards) and 4th (Scott) respectively.
After a nail-biting final, which produced some of the fastest relay splits in history (Duncan Scott splitting a 1:43.95), Team GB touched the wall first ahead of Team USA by 1.35 seconds and Team Australia by 2.55 seconds. An amazing swim produced by the four men which resulted in the GB team successfully defending their Olympic title from the Tokyo Games. For McMillan, as he was a part of the morning heats which placed Team GB in the centre lane, he and Bird both will receive well deserved Olympic Gold medals and the title of Olympic Champions.
Later that evening, Jack spoke and said “I did my job to get the boys to the final, and I was just hoping that they would get the job done, and they did! We’ve brought Gold home for Great Britain, and yeah, I’m feeling very grateful for this opportunity to be a part of this amazing team.”
As the dust settled on an amazing night at the Paris La Défense Arena, we reflected on the history that has been made. After an exhilarating race, McMillan cements his name into the history books as the 5th Northern Irish athlete to win a Gold medal at the Olympic Games. He joins the following list:
- Lady Mary Peters
- Stephen Martin
- Jimmy Kirkwood
- Daniel Wiffen