World Aquatics Championships 2024: Nic Fink claims first long course 100m breaststroke world title, Adam Peaty takes bronze

Nic Fink claimed his first men's 100m breaststroke long course world title at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships on Monday (12 February).

Lining up in a stacked field, the American swimmer led from the off with two-time reigning 100m breaststroke Olympic champion Adam Peaty closing the gap over the first length.

But the Brit, who is competing his first long-course World Championships since 2019 following a break from the sport, seemed to fatigue in the second half, as Fink increased his lead to take the gold medal.

A very fast-finish from 2022 world champion, Nicolo Martinenghi, saw the Italian seal silver, while Peaty completed the podium with bronze.

"This means a lot, I'm really happy with the time, and obviously the place. There's a bunch of great breaststrokers this year and just getting a chance to race them at this point in the Olympic year was great. I think that's a really great stepping stone for the rest of the summer," Fink said after.

"With the way everyone is performing and improving - it was great to see Adam Peaty back in the water as he's just great for the sport - it's great to have a familiar situation every time I go out and race.

"At this stage in my career I've done a whole bunch of training, so I'm happy to keep on racing now."

On the absence of 2023 world champion Qin Haiyang, Fink said:

"I've raced him a lot this past year and he's done a lot of racing so I don't blame him for not coming here. I'm sure he's working hard wherever he is and after this meet I'm going to be working hard too."

Peaty, who topped the timings in yesterday's semi-finals, had mixed feelings over the result.

"It's bittersweet. There isn't enough in the skill bank just yet to get the results I want under pressure," he said after.

"It's something we're going to have to identify as a team. We're going to need a lot more training and a lot more perseverance on the skills because I am losing out margins. The swimming speed is fine. Over the next five months I know that's only going to improve, and that's my thing, but the skills are just not good enough at this moment. 

"We didn't come here for medals. That's just not the target coming off a hard bank of work. Last night's performance gave me a little glimmer of hope that I would go faster than I did today, and maybe I would have if I had executed those skills but I exposed myself in an arena that I haven't been in in a while for a final in a world championships. 

"So I'm disappointed in that essence, but I've also got to make sure I don't wear it because it has been a long time since I've been in this and the next five months are going to really define who I am as an athlete. 

"You've still got to enjoy it, but the extreme competitor in me is never going to be happy with bronze. I wasn't even happy with gold back in the day, so you've got to get that balance of thought right and my happiness now in this sport comes from knowing that I couldn't have done anything more, and tonight I knew that I could have done something more, which has left me quite annoyed. 

"But maybe getting the exact performance that I wanted out there would have been just as dangerous as not getting what I wanted because this is going to push me and now I know that I really need to hone in on these skills. Sometimes you have to have a wake up call and today was a nice wake up call."

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