Great Britain Edges Italy in Women's 4x100m Relay Thriller at European Aquatics Championships
Great Britain won the women's 4x100 metres relay gold medal at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris 2026, beating Italy to the wall in a finish decided on the very last stroke.
Italy took silver in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay at the same championships, confirming a rivalry that has produced tight racing between the two nations throughout the meet. The British victory came down to the wire — a touch at the wall separating gold from silver in a race where every hundredth of a second matters.
A 4x100m relay works simply enough: four swimmers each cover 100 metres, handing over to the next at the wall. The medley version assigns each swimmer a different stroke — backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle — while the freestyle relay lets all four swim freestyle. Both formats reward depth across a squad, not just one fast swimmer.
The result extends a competitive pattern between Britain and Italy in the pool. At the 22nd World Aquatics Championships, held in 2025, the United States set a world record in the women's 4x100m medley relay to close the meet, with Great Britain also reaching the championship final in 3:57.95 (World Aquatics). Italy, meanwhile, has built its own medal-winning tradition, with Thomas Ceccon and Nicolo Martinenghi both claiming gold at recent World Championships.
For British swimming, the relay gold adds to a growing list of international successes. The British men's 4x100m freestyle relay team, anchored by Tom Dean — who split 46.95 seconds on his leg at the World Championships in Doha — has shown the relay depth running through the programme (World Aquatics). Now the women have their own moment.
What makes relay racing compelling is its unforgiving arithmetic. A single slow takeover — the moment one swimmer's feet leave the block as the previous one touches the wall — can cost a team tenths that no one can claw back. Four swimmers must each hit their best time on the same night, in the right order, with no margin for a slip.
Italy's silver confirms the depth on the European side of the sport. The two nations have traded blows across both pool and open water: Italy won the inaugural Open Water Mixed Team Relay in Abu Dhabi in 2021, powered by distance specialist Gregorio Paltrinieri, with Britain's Hector Pardoe among the early leaders.
The Paris 2026 championships have given swimming a fresh chapter in that rivalry. The margins are thin. The finishes are close. And on this night, the wall belonged to Great Britain.
