Tom Dean has claimed World Championship bronze in the 200m Freestyle at the FINA Aquatics World Championships in Budapest.
The 22-year-old clawed his way to a podium position in a time of 1.44.98 a year on from being crowned Olympic Champion in the event.
The Maidenhead swimmer was beaten to gold by teenage prodigy David Popovici from Romania who broke the World Junior Record and Championship Record in a time 1.43.21.
Dean went out storming, under world record time at the 100m turn with a 49.81 split before 17-year-old Popovici reeled him in for gold to become the first male swimmer representing Romania to win gold at an Aquatics World Championships.
He said: "What can you do against a 1.43.2, it's insane. I went out a bit quick and paid for it, but I'm still learning.
"Duncan Scott won a bronze in 2019 in 200m free and has gone on to do great things so I would love to follow in his footsteps."
Scott announced his withdrawal from this year's World Championships due to recovering from Covid and was unable to defend his 2019 bronze medal.
Korea's Sunwoo Hwang overtook Dean on the final 50m to steal the silver and the British swimmer held off a charging Drew Kibler from the USA, touching ahead by just 0.03 seconds.
Dean's bronze is the first British medal of the 2022 Aquatics World Championships out in the Duna Arena and the bronze medallist goes again in the Men's 200m Individual Medley tomorrow and will be in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay later in the week.
Sportsbeat 2022