Matt Richards vowed to use his ‘devastating’ Olympic silver medal as a crucial learning curve after missing out on gold by the barest of margins in Paris.

The Worcester star, 21, was pipped to a stunning men’s 200m freestyle victory by an agonising 0.02s last night as Romanian David Popovici touched the wall a fraction in front of him on Monday night.

Out in lane one, Richards produced a scintillating swim to give Popovici, a two-time world individual champion who goes by the self-labelled nickname of the ‘Chlorine Daddy’, a real scare at a raucous La Defense Arena.

Hardly anything could separate Popovici, Richards, bronze medallist Luke Hobson and fellow Brit Duncan Scott in a heart-thumping finale and despite the Team GB star thinking he touched the wall first, it was precocious Popovici, 19, who grabbed Olympic glory.

Richards accepts full responsibility for not putting enough pressure on the pool’s perimeter and believes suffering heartbreak from his ‘technical’ shortcomings can benefit him in the future.

"I'm over the moon but devastated at the same time,” said Richards, who also hopes to go one better in the 100m freestyle event this week.

"If anything I think that the silver is fantastic – it has made me hungry for more.

“An individual Olympic silver medal is massive for me – it’s something that I’ve dreamt of since I was a little boy.

“I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t dreaming of being one step higher on the podium, but tonight it wasn’t meant to be.

“There’s lots of lessons I can learn from the racing – I loved every minute of that tonight and it was a proper dogfight. 

“It was a real battle that came down to the finish, and tonight I didn’t quite get my hand on the wall fast enough.

“It felt like [I touched the wall first] – I did think I’d done enough, but it’s not a sport of subjection and black and white, it’s down to numbers.

“That’s down to my finish and technical ability to get the pressure into the wall.

“If I got my hand on there first and didn’t put enough pressure through the board, that’s not the board’s fault, that’s mine.

“That’s something that I’ve got to work on, go back, learn from, improve on and make sure it doesn’t’ happen again.”

Richards, who was crowned world champion over the distance at the age of just 20 in Fukuoka last year, added: “I’m young, I’m 21 and I’m planning on being in the sport for at least another 10 years yet, so every single one of these little lessons I can learn is hugely, hugely valuable.”

As for Scott, whose four medals in Tokyo made him the most decorated British athlete at a single Olympics, he was unable to improve on his 200m freestyle silver from three years ago as he missed out on a medal by just 0.08s.

The Scottish star, 27, lost out to fellow Brit Tom Dean – who failed to qualify to defend his title at this Games – in Tokyo and delivered a below-par display in a choppy lane five.

Scott, who will also race in the 200m individual medley and relays here in Paris, said:

“I’m pretty disappointed as you can probably imagine.

“Fourth is pretty tough for anyone – but I’m really happy for Matt.

“Maybe I saw myself as a little of an underdog tonight whereas last time I was a bit more of a favourite.

“But I’ve been coming back strong this whole year – I’ve got to use that as an advantage, but it’s a pretty tough one to swallow.”

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