Gritty Adam Peaty wins gold in 50m breaststroke at Commonwealth Games
Roaring with delight the super speedy England swimmer put a tricky few days behind him and roared on to gold at Birmingham 2022.
Swimming
Pure grit, is what got super speedy England breaststroke specialist Adam Peaty a gold medal in the 50m breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday night (2 August).
He may have admitted he's not on his best form at Birmingham 2022 so far but his lion's heart is still beating and was enough to propel him to the title at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
"After the 100m, I was the lowest of the low," he said after claiming the title.
"I had something that was almost guaranteed taken away from me and I took it for granted I think.
"I was saying to Ross (Murdoch, Scotland) in the swim-down I didn't want to do the 50m and he said, 'no, you'll regret it and you'll regret it the day after, a year after and for life'.
"And I'm glad he was there to encourage me.
"Yesterday was all about going through the rounds and today was the emotion: that was the rawness and that's what you saw."
All-time results
Peaty had never won the Commonwealth title in the 50 breaststroke, coming second to South African, Cameron van der Burgh at both Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018.
Between those Games, Peaty won the 100m breaststroke at Rio 2016, the first title in the event by a British male athlete in 24 years. He retained the title at Tokyo 2020, the first British swimmer to ever retain an Olympic title.
He is also an eight-time world champion and is the holder of the world record in 50m and 100m breaststroke events.
He also adds to his Commonwealth Games tally of gold in 100 m breaststroke, 4×100m medley and the 100m breaststroke from the past two Commonwealth Games.
"I knew this was going to be my last Commonwealths so today was the day to do it, I've completed the whole collection now, just got to get some short-course.
"It is a sweet victory for me."
Sam Williamson of Australia claimed silver in a time of 26.97s, the first time he's been under the magic 27s mark. On racing Peaty he said: "I’ve grown up watching him swim, so just having the opportunity to race against him is something I am never going to forget.
"Ten weeks ago, he broke his foot, so the courage he took to step up and compete this week is incredible. I don’t think anyone else would have had the strength and been able to pull themselves together in that period.
“He is without a doubt the best breaststroker the world has ever seen, so just to be able to stand next to him is pretty bloody cool."
Scotland's Ross Murdoch bagged bronze in 27.32s and says it is his last individual race before retiring.
"I got a really good message earlier from my old coach and he said ‘that’s where you started your career son, in lane eight where nobody believed in you and that’s where you’ll finish’ and that really got me going today. I sat by myself for about an hour playing my guitar and just tears in my eyes."
How to watch 2022 Commonwealth Games
UK: BBC TV, Radio, iPlayer
Canada: CBC Sports, CBC Sports app
Australia: Channel 7, 7Plus
New Zealand: Sky, TVNZ
India: Sony LIV
Further streaming details can be found on the Commonwealth Games website here.
You can follow all the action via our live update blog article on Olympics.com.