Rio 2016: Great Britain's James Guy blows lead to finish sixth in 400m freestyle final

Hannah Miley then has bronze snatched from her in final lunge in the 400m individual medley as Team GB still await first medal

(Getty)

Great Britain’s James Guy tonight launched a dramatic bid to win the 400m freestyle gold, storming into a lead which saw him out ahead by a full second 100m out, before he was reeled in Australian Mack Horton.

The 20-year-old was strong from the start and after three lengths the gold medal looked on, as he clocked one minute 21.99, with Horton struggling to keep pace. But it was in the fifth length that Guy began to tire and despite a late attempt to catch Horton and the Chinese swimmer Yang Sun, he finished well down the field in a discipline in which a gold would have been a surprise.

Guy’s struggles to maintain his pace was linked to the hard swim he faced in his semi–final and with the 200m his strongest discipline will feel more confident in that event on Sunday.

Guy’s storming start reflects the new self-belief which Britain’s new head coach Bill Furniss has introduced to the squad and which Guy has epitomised here in Rio. Guy had been encouraged, like all of the British competitors , not to think about medals, though he clearly had his mind set on gold.

The results leaves Britain still looking for their first gold, though Guy’s 200m freestyle and the 100m breastroke of Adam Peaty, who set a new world record of 57.55 seconds to rank first fastest in the qualifying heats, gives the British squad huge hopes on Sunday.

Guy was a medal prospect in the 400m freestyle, though at the World Championships in Kazan last year, he became the first Briton to win a world 200m freestyle medal for 40 years. That is the event in which he has most chance of winning gold.

“This is only the start of the journey,” Guy said before his final. “I’m 20 years old and I’m at the Olympic Games – it’s pretty cool. I try not to think about medals, I think about personal bests and that’s what I try to do."

Following Guy was Britain's Hannah Miley in the 400m individual medley in which Hungary's Katrinka Housszu smashed the world record by two seconds. Miley stormed back into the race after a poor start and was on for bronze with 100m to go but cruelly lost out by 0.15 seconds to Mireia Belmonte Garcia as the Spaniard nipped ahead with the race's final lunge.