Duncan Scott holds off Tom Dean surge to win 200m individual medley gold

The brutal yet pleasant rivalry between Duncan Scott and Tom Dean gained another chapter on the very last day of swimming at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre as Scott hung onto his lead during a dramatic climax to the 200m individual medley, eventually seeing off a surging Dean to win his second gold medal and fifth medal of the Games.

Another gold medal is further evidence that Scott stands at the peak of his powers. Over the past 13 months, he has won two individual Olympic silver medals, four overall, and now six medals at the Commonwealth Games.

His haul in Birmingham includes another gold medal in the 200m freestyle, where he and Dean also faced off, with Scott edging him out. Scott, 25, is Scotland’s most decorated Commonwealth athlete of all time with 12 medals overall.

Having trailed in third place after the opening butterfly lap, Scott tore through the field on the backstroke lap to establish a half-second lead after 100m. Despite Scott not letting up, Dean spent the final freestyle lap furiously chasing Scott down. He very nearly did but Scott held on to win with a Games record time of 1:56.88, just 0.13 ahead of Dean.

“Rivalries or competition in general gets the best out of us. I say that for myself and I can say that for Deano, we love a race,” said Scott in a joint interview with Dean to the BBC. “Whether it’s with each other or anything from Olympic Games, World Champs or Commonwealth Games, we love the atmosphere, we love finals. We love getting in amongst it and we love racing each other as well because it gets the best out of each other.”

This has been no deficient debut Commonwealth Games for Dean, whose second place finish yielded his sixth silver medal of the event. After winning two gold medals in a