Swimmer Tom Dean sensationally clinched Britain’s fourth gold of the Tokyo Games on day four of the Olympics, six months after he contracted Covid for a second time.
The 21-year-old, who struggled to walk up stairs after contracting the virus, edged out compatriot Duncan Scott by 0.04secs in the 200m freestyle.
Elsewhere, Georgia Taylor-Brown fought back from a puncture on the last lap of the bike leg to take triathlon silver.
The Briton was 22 seconds off the four-strong leading pack going into the run.
But she reeled in all her rivals except for Bermuda’s Flora Duffy to claim an emotional second-place finish.
It is Britain’s second triathlon silver after Alex Yee’s success on Monday.
Meanwhile, there was disappointment for Bianca Walkden in the women’s +67kg taekwondo semi-finals as she was stunned by South Korea’s Lee Da-bin in a 25-24 defeat.
Walkden was a GB favourite to win gold but fell to the floor after a last-gasp kick to the head gave Lee the win.
The Liverpudlian will fight for a second successive Olympic bronze at 13:00 BST.
With 10 medals in total so far on day four, this is the best start for a British team in Games history – and the highest number of gold medals for Britain at this point.
Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis at Nielsen Gracenote, said: “Great Britain has made its best start to an Olympic Games with at least 10 medals after four days of competition.
“This smashes the record for most British medals in the first four days which was six in 2000, 2008 and 2016. Great Britain’s recent successes at London and Rio began with four and six medals respectively in the opening four days.”
Gracenote’s virtual medal table projects a total of 52 medals by the end of the Games. UK Sport set a medal target of between 45 and 70.
Team GB won 65 medals at London 2012, followed by 67 medals in Rio in 2016 – finishing second in the medal table.
Coming up on Tuesday
09:00 BST: Britain’s Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin and Charlotte Fry aim to upset Germany in the dressage team final
11:45 BST: Great Britain’s gymnastics team compete in the women’s team final in which the United States and Russia are expected to contest gold
‘Olympic gold seemed a million miles’
Dean’s preparations for Tokyo were badly disrupted by Covid, with the 21-year-old losing more than six weeks of training after contracting the illness twice.
“When I was sitting in my flat in isolation, an Olympic gold seemed a million miles off,” he said.
“I had Covid in September and the new year. The first time wasn’t too bad. The second time I did the full isolation period, I wasn’t able to train and it was a slow build back into training.”
Dean’s team-mate Scott was favourite going into the final after qualifying fastest, but was beaten to the touch in a tight finish.
The result is Britain’s first swimming one-two in 113 years with both men cheered on by Adam Peaty, who successfully defended his 100m breaststroke title on Monday.
Taylor-Brown battles rain, wind and wheel rims to take silver
Taylor-Brown, 27, revealed after the finish that she had overcome a stress fracture to her leg to make the start line, passing a late fitness test a week before departing for Tokyo.
“My training had gone so well before then though, so that was a bit of a shock, but I knew I had all of that training in the bag,” she said.
“I wanted to keep it private. You don’t want to show your competitors your weaknesses.”
Her preparations for a race in hot, humid conditions were thrown by Tropical Storm Nepartak which brought high winds and heavy rain to the event.
Then, on the bike leg, she was up with the leaders before a flat rear tyre saw her slip back on the final kilometre of the 40km bike leg.
Afterwards, she said she “panicked” when the incident happened.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I just rode out on the flat. It was panic mode but it paid off,” she told BBC Sport.
Gold medallist Duffy’s success marked a piece of history as Bermuda became the least populous nation ever to win an Olympic gold.
What else has happened?
- Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony, lost in the third round to Marketa Vondrousova
- Britain’s Caroline Dubois advanced into the last 16 with a comprehensive victory in her opening lightweight contest against Donjeta Sadiku of Kosovo, while Pat McCormack made it into the last welterweight tournament with a win over Aliaksandr Radzionau of Belarus.
- Great Britain’s men’s hockey team suffered a sobering 5-1 defeat against Germany, denting a campaign that had begun with wins over South Africa and Canada.
- Great Britain’s men’s sevens team will face the United States in the quarter-finals after losing their final pool match to Fiji in a repeat of the Rio 2016 final.
- Britain’s Kathleen Dawson finished sixth in the 100m backstroke, while Freya Anderson missed out on qualifying for the 200m freestyle.
- Britain’s Evie Richards finished seventh in the women’s cross-country mountain biking