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Luke Greenbank takes bronze to give Great Britain another swimming medal

It was Team GB’s fifth medal of the Games.

David Charlesworth
Friday 30 July 2021 03:17 BST
Luke Greenbank took bronze (Joe Giddens/PA)
Luke Greenbank took bronze (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

Luke Greenbank claimed Britain’s fifth swimming medal at Tokyo 2020 by taking bronze in the men’s 200 metres backstroke.

Greenbank qualified second fastest to reach the final on Friday morning and started well at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, sitting behind only Evgeny Rylov of the Russian Olympic Committee after the first length.

He was overtaken by Ryan Murphy of the United States by halfway but comfortably held on to to finish third in a time of one minute and 54.72 seconds.

Rylov set an Olympic record time of 1min 53.27 secs to claim his second gold of these Games, having already bagged top spot on the podium in the men’s 100m breaststroke, while Murphy finished in 1:54.15 to scoop silver.

Greenbank told the BBC: “It’s amazing. A dream come true. I’m so happy and over the moon.

“My first memory of swimming is watching the Beijing Olympics. It’s always been a life ambition of mine so to come away with a medal, an individual medal as well, is absolutely amazing.”

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