British Swimming celebrated one of its greatest nights in World Championship history when Olympic Champion Adam Peaty and Commonwealth Champion Ben Proud delivered back-to-back gold medals.
Peaty (National Centre Loughborough) brought the Duna Arena to its feet in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke when he lowered his own Championship Record on the way to winning his second consecutive World Championship title.
Peaty was ahead of the field at the turn in 26.50 and extended that lead over the final 50m to touch in 57.47, the second quickest swim in the history of the event behind his own World Record, with silver going to Kevin Cordes of the US in 58.79 and Russia’s Kirill Prigoda took the bronze in 59.05. Team mate Ross Murdoch (University of Stirling) was eighth.
“I went out there with a lot of guts tonight and I knew that if I wanted to go fast I would have to do stuff I’ve never done before,” said Peaty
“I went out there in a 26.50 and that was very, very easy so hopefully I can produce something special in my 50m event.“I’m one-and-a-half seconds ahead of the rest of the world and I’m very happy with that but it’s not the time I focus on, it’s the way I did it which really pleases me. It’s a great way to start my next Olympic cycle.”
- Adam Peaty - Men's 100m Breaststroke World Champion
Ben Proud (Plymouth Leander) took Britain’s second gold medal of the night in the Men’s 50m Butterfly when he touched in a new British Record of 22.75. Silver went to Nicholas Santos of Brazil in 22.79 and bronze to Andrii Govorov of the Ukraine in 22.84.
“After last night I might not have looked in pole position but deep down I knew that if I got the start right I was in the mix for a medal,” said Proud.
“The past 24 hours have really just been about a mental battle. I needed to get my head in the right place so I can go into this race and not even think about medals.
“It was all about that first 15m and after I nailed that start I just let my body takeover and I switched my mind off.
“It took me a while to realise I’d won, I was shocked at first but it’s a dream come true. At first I was waiting for someone else to start celebrating but it didn’t happen and then I saw my name.“I’ve dreamt of this since I started swimming and to be honest it is the reason I started swimming and the reason I moved to the UK. For it to happen today is a dream come true.”
- Ben Proud - Men's 50m Butterfly World Champion
Britain’s Duncan Scott (University of Stirling) and James Guy (National Centre Loughborough) won their respective semi-finals of the Men’s 200m Freestyle to qualify first and second fastest. Scott set a new personal best time of 1:45.16 while Guy touched in a new season’s best 1:45.18 ahead of tomorrow’s final.
At her first World Championships, Sarah Vasey (National Centre Loughborough) qualified for tomorrow’s final of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke while British Rookie Kathleen Dawson also qualified for her first final in the Women’s 100m Backstroke.
OIympic silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor finished day two when she went in the final of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley and finished in seventh place.
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