David Davies battled to silver in the 1500m freestyle as Britain finished with 24 medals at the World Short Course Championships.
Caitlin McClatchey, Fran Halsall, Liam Tancock and Jemma Lowe all won bronze on a frantic final day in Manchester.
Britain had a stunning championships, winning three golds and five more medals than any other country, with Tancock and Halsall taking four each.
The British crowd also saw 18 world records fall during a thrilling week.
It was a record-breaking championship for Britain's swimmers, who set 44 national records as well as nine Commonwealth and European marks to give them the perfect boost with the Olympics now less than four months away.
The international stars of the week were American Ryan Lochte who broke four world records and Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, who set three new world times as she finished with four golds.
"It's been amazing to be part of this team and it's been such a buzz"
Davies was the star Briton on a Sunday that had 12 dazzling finals on the last day of the championships.
The Welshman struggled at times during the 1500m freestyle, but he clawed his way through the field to finish with a time of 14 minutes 36.30 seconds, just over 13 seconds behind Russian winner Yuriy Prilukov.
Davies has been preparing for next month's World Open Water Championships in Seville and the 23-year-old admitted the race had been hard work.
"I have been really struggling in training - I thought I was going to be lapped," he said. "At the end I was absolutely done in. I used all the guts in me."
In the first final of the day, American Nathan Adrian won gold in the 100m freestyle ahead of Italian Filippo Magnini and Croatia's Duje Draganja.
The day's first world record went to Croatia's Sanja Jovanovic, who won the 50m breaststroke in 26.37, with Lincoln's Lizzie Simmonds finishing last.
Edinburgh's Gregor Tait broke the GB record in the 200m backstroke, but could only finish in sixth, as Austrian Markus Rogan flew home with another world record in 1:47.84.
606: DEBATE
Exeter's Tancock capped off a fantastic week when he won his fourth medal by finishing third in a 100m individual medley final behind USA's Ryan Lochte, who set a new world record, and Slovenia's Peter Mankoc.
Tancock said: "I'm over the moon. It's been a great week for the team and I'm proud to be part of it."
It was another fine performance by Hartlepool's 17-year-old Lowe when she came in third with a new British record of 56.84 in the 100m butterfly.
Australia's Felicity Galvez won the race with a world record of 55.89, while Britain's Ellen Gandy came in last.
WORLD SHORT COURSE MEDALS
Liverpool's Halsall continued her fine form with a lifetime best 24.11 in the 50m freestyle, with Marleen Veldhuis from the Netherlands grabbing a new world record time.
Halsall said: "It's been amazing to be part of this team and it's been such a buzz."
Oleg Lisogor from Ukraine squeezed home to take gold in the 50m breaststroke in 26.46, while New Zealand's Moss Burmester broke the Commonwealth record to take the 200m butterfly title.
In the final race of the day, GB's 4x100m medley team of Tancock, James Gibson, Michael Rock and Benjamin Hockin could only make fifth as the Russian quartet won with a world record of 3:24.29.
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