TEAM GB were not even intending to enter a team for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in Tokyo. 

It was only when the quartet of Jedburgh’s Lucy Hope, along with Anna Hopkin, Abbie Wood and Freya Anderson set the British record on the way to the gold medal at the European Championships in May that this race suddenly became a realistic possibility. 

In Tokyo, the four Olympic debutants have lowered that British record not once but twice, the latter in the final to finish fifth. 

And with all four now up and running, the future looks bright for both the relay, and its component parts. 

Hope said: “It’s pretty special. It’s so good to be able to race with these three girls. There’s so much talent in one team. It’s just the start for this relay, we didn’t even know we were doing until after European so in the next three years we can progress so much.” 

Wood added: “To come away with a best time as a relay team, we couldn’t have done much more. It was a good start to the meet. 

“It’s all our first Olympics, I feel like we just stepped up for our first Olympic final, we did ourselves proud coming away with a British record.  

“We can build year by year as a team, it’s exciting knowing what’s to come. This is the third time we’ve raced together as us four, so it will be quite interesting to see if we get more experience, how far it will go.” 

These Games represent a change in format to traditional swimming meets, with finals shifted to the mornings to fit in with the schedule of the American television networks. 

That is quite a dramatic change for the swimmers, and has led to a few surprise results – not least 18-year-old Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui stunning everyone with 400m freestyle gold. 

And Wood believes the results of the first finals session should give every swimmer in Tokyo hope. 

“Now we’ve got a taste, we know what we’re dealing with, especially after watching all the other finals,” added Wood, who is able to train full-time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams thanks to National Lottery funding – which has never been more important in getting her to the start line after a turbulent year.

“We’ve just seen there’s a winner from lane eight. So it’s really a case of ‘If you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance’. The morning finals make it much more unpredictable and interesting.” 

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