Freya Anderson hailed an ‘inspirational’ experience after concluding her Olympic campaign with a fifth-placed finish in the women’s 4x200m freestyle final.

The Birkenhead swimmer joined Freya Colbert, Abbie Wood and Lucy Hope in the British quartet for a showpiece which was won by Australia in an Olympic record time of 7:38.08.

Britain were just over 10 seconds further back but Anderson, who was competing in her second relay final of the week after coming seventh in the 4x100m freestyle, loved every minute of her second Olympics.

“It was really good to get out with the girls,” said Anderson, who clocked 1:56.15 in her split.

“That relay has been a work-on for us over the past few years and last time we didn’t even do it at the Olympics, so it’s a new best ranking, which is exciting.

“Paris has been inspiring, to say the least. It’s been really cool and seeing people push the boundaries of sport and swimming has been very inspirational, I’ve enjoyed it.”

Anderson, 23, claimed gold as part of the 4x100m mixed medley team in Tokyo but a medal in the 4x200m here looked a tall order in a star-studded field.

Mollie Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus earned a one-two in the individual 200m freestyle earlier in the week and promptly bookended Australia’s success, with an American quartet including Katie Ledecky in second and China claiming bronze.

Anderson and her teammates, who are over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, relished going up against their trailblazing opponents and are up for the challenge of matching their exploits.

“We were hoping for a little bit better but that field is just extraordinary,” Hope said.

“Being in front of that crowd, alongside these girls, is just such fun and it was good to get out there and race among the best in the world.

“The cheers were so loud, I was shaking. This atmosphere is second to none, especially when there’s French swimmers out there.

“It’s the fastest it’s ever been at the Olympics, so it’s good to push it on and just nice to be out there. Hopefully one day we can challenge for a medal.”

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