Olympic Games 2024: Duncan Scott misses out on record medal

He might not have been the outright favourite, but this was to have been his night.

After silver in this event in the Tokyo Games, the wee boy from Alloa was going to be the big man in Paris.

But instead he was left gawping at the huge scoreboards in this incredible tub of noise, gasping for air, and wondering what had happened.

Positioned in the fifth lane, Scott was fifth after 50m. No panic. Easing his way in.

Still fifth after 100m. OK, time to wind it up a bit, big fella.

Fifth as they turned for the final length. He needs a big finish here.

Scott produced one but it wasn’t big enough. He was 0.15 seconds away from gold, 0.13 away from silver, and 0.08 off bronze.

His belief he needed to swim faster than ever before to win a medal – in what those who know about these things deemed “a slow pool” – turned out to be misplaced.

David Popovici’s winning time was well within his purview, given Scott’s one minute 44:87 seconds here was 0.61 slower than the one that earned him silver in 2021.

That British rival Matt Richards took second place perhaps only adds to that sting.