The team of Bogdan Mozgovoi, Andrei Kalina, Alexander Skaliukh and Andrei Nikolaev finished in 4min 6.59sec to see off a late challenge from Australia in second.

Mozgovoi put the RPC in front after the first 100m by posting a time of 1:01.00, and legs from Kalina and Skaliukh kept them well in contention in second place - 1.99 seconds behind then leaders Italy with 100m to go.

An outstanding swim from Nikolaev in 57.70 seconds saw them eventually finish some 4.61 seconds in front of Italy in third, while Ben Popham’s final leg of 57.16 was not enough for the Australian team, who had to settle for bronze.

The quartet just missed out on the world record, also set by a team from Russia in 4:06.09 at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2015, and the Paralympic record of 4:06.44 set at Rio 2016 by China.

Earlier in the day at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Andrei Gladkov, Daniil Smirnov, Dmitry Grigoryev and Denis Tarasov qualified the RPC for the final by winning the second heat in 4:18.70.

S9 swimmer Mozgovoi contributed to team golds in the men’s 4x100m medley 34 points relay at the most recent editions of the World Para Swimming Championships in London in 2019 and the European Championships held in Funchal in Portugal this May.

At Tokyo 2020, the 20-year-old also won the 100m backstroke S9 - an event in which he set a new world record in Funchal to become the current European champion, as he is in the men’s 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay.

Kalina secured his third gold medal of Tokyo 2020, and is the team’s most experienced member at the age of 34.

He clinched Paralympic titles in the 100m breaststroke SB8 for the fourth time and the 200m individual medley SM9 for the first time, having previously secured three silvers.

He has won nine gold medals at the World Championships, dating back to Durban in South Africa in 2006, and is currently world champion in all three of the individual and team events he won at Tokyo 2020.

Kalina is also European champion in the 100m breaststroke SB8 and 4x100m medley 34 points relay.

Twenty-seven-year-old Skaliukh was the only member of the team yet to win an individual gold at Tokyo 2020, although he did secure a bronze in the men’s 100m butterfly S9.

He is also reigning world and European champion in the 4x100m medley 34 points relay, one of five world golds.

The others came at Glasgow 2015 in the 50m and 100m freestyle S9, 100m butterfly S9 and the 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay.

Nikolaev won the men’s 400m freestyle S8 earlier at the Paralympics and silver in the 100m freestyle S8.

The 20-year-old is already world and European champion in the 400m freestyle S8 and the 4x100m medley 34 points relay.

Of the team that appeared in qualifying, three had already won Paralympic, world or European titles.

Gladkov secured three golds at Glasgow 2015 in this relay event, the 100m backstroke S7 and 400m freestyle.

Smirnov is the youngest member of the team at 19, and finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke SB8.

Grigoryev also contributed to the successful 4x100m medley 34 points relay team at Glasgow 2015, while Tarasov is a former Paralympic gold medallist in the S8 50m freestyle at London 2012 and a seven-time world champion.