World breaststroke gold double for Peaty; silver for Van der Burgh

South Africa’s silver medal victor Cameron van der Burgh competes in the men’s 100m breaststroke final at the Swimming World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Monday, August 3, 2015.

Russia’s Yuliya Efimova, whose doping ban ended earlier this year, led qualifying for the 100 breaststroke final on Tuesday night.

Peaty touched home in 26.51secs, with Van der Burgh edged out by 0.15 seconds in a second finger-tipped finale between the pair within three days.

Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took bronze to win Britain’s first world 200m individual medley medal.

He said: “That is the second quickest I have ever been and, considering how the last two rounds went, I am really pleased with that”. It was just a race to touch the wall first and thankfully it was my day.

“World record, gold medal, world champion – it’s a nice feeling and I haven’t even started my week”, said Halsall.

It was Britain’s third gold in the swimming pool after Peaty won the 100m title on Monday night and James Guy won the men’s 200m freestyle on Tuesday.

Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa had to settle for silver once more as the Briton caught the world champion with the final stroke to win.

Lauren Quigley and Daniel Wallace both made smooth progress from their semi-finals while Roberto Pavoni missed out in an agonisingly close swim-off. That is a requirement for world-record status, says FINA, the worldwide federation now, having talked to British Swimming to explain, yet to provide a final decision on whether the standard will stand in the thread of history or not.

Peaty won the 50m breaststroke to become the first man to complete the 50m and 100m title double before claiming further success in the 4x100m mixed relay medley.

“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. “We’re on a roll and I don’t think anything’s going to stop us now”.

“I was a bit slower going out, but that’s what sport is all about, it could have gone either way”.

When asked by an on-deck reporter what could be expected tomorrow, Peaty said, “hopefully tomorrow I’m looking to improve that”.

ADAM Peaty continued his remarkable World Championships by claiming two more gold medals and another world record in Kazan.