Britain’s Adam Peaty wins 100 breaststroke at worlds

Great Britain’s Adam Peaty has won gold in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke at the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia.

South Africa’s Olympic 100m breaststroke champion Cameron van der Burgh is ready to prove his shoulder injury woes are behind him as he battles for world championships gold in Kazan.

Peaty – the world record holder – had trailed the South African until the final couple of strokes but finished strongly to clock a time of 58.52 seconds.

“It wasn’t the time I was expected to do, but world and Olympic finals are made for the win”.

Peaty said: “I turned and I saw his foot and I was like, “Right, I’ve got some catching up to do now”.

Elsewhere, Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszu broke the women’s 200m IM record on Monday as she retained her crown in Kazan. Fellow Briton Ross Murdoch took bronze in a Scottish record time.

And as Ryk Neethling noted afterwards on Twitter, Van der Burgh’s 50m split was only.

And while Japan’s Kanako Watanabe overtook her in the final metres to clinch silver, the 19-year old Brit was able to hold off USA’s fast-finishing Maya Di Rado with Great Britain’s Hannah Miley one place back in fifth.

“The 200m is just a bit of fun, I’m just excited to try that one, there is no pressure and I have nothing to lose”, he explained. “But I remembered that I train for moments like this and I came out on top, thankfully”. “We knew it was going to be a close race”.

In the 25km Open Water race, Nico Manoussakis finished 23rd with a time of 5:20:47.2.

But, Van der Burgh was beaten to the wall by world record holder Adam Peaty.

“It’s still my first major so I’m new to all this”, Peaty told BBC Sport.

Earlier, France’s Florent Manaudou won the men’s 50m butterfly title.

Brown will also have another stab at reaching a final at the championships when he takes on the 800m freestyle.

In the women’s 100 backstroke semifinals, Emily Seebohm of Australia qualified fastest after being under world-record pace on the opening lap.