Adam Peaty bounces back to claim Commonwealth Games 50m breaststroke gold

Two nights after suffering his first defeat since 2018, the Staffordshire ace bounced back in the manner only the great champions ever do, winning the only title to have previously eluded him.

His victory in the 50 metre breaststroke final might just have been the sweetest of a career which has featured countless.

On the canvas after failing to even win a medal in Sunday’s 100m final, Peaty was suddenly off it and throwing haymakers, powering to his fifth Commonwealth Games gold in a time of 26.76 seconds, his quickest over the distance for two years.

In less than half-a-minute a championships which have at times appeared more public therapy session than sporting event had a triumphant finish, Peaty thumping the water as the frustration of the hours prior came pouring out.

“Today was the raw emotion, that is what you saw,” he later explained, revealing how only a pep talk from GB team-mate Ross Murdoch – who took bronze - had convinced him to even compete in the 50m, after the disappointment in the 100.

“Ross told me if I didn’t do the 50 I would regret it,” said Peaty. “He told me I would regret it for the day after, the week after and the rest of your life’. I’m glad he encouraged me.”

So too was everyone else present in the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, for what was truly a rare piece of sporting theatre.

Peaty’s rapid fall and rise over the past few days are a reminder why it never serves to take words spoken by athletes in the heat of the moment too literally.

The 27-year-old, whose preparation for the Games had been heavily disrupted by a broken foot, had begun the day by issuing an apology via social media for comments made after last night’s semi-final deemed disrespectful to the event by some observers, former GB ace turned BBC pundit Mark Foster among them.

“People don’t understand the lowest of lows,” countered Peaty. “Mark hasn’t done it in a very long time and sometime that feeling had escaped you.

“As an athlete in that moment, I was at my lowest. I had nothing else to say, or do. That was my escape route. But this does mean a lot to me, you can see that.”

The crowd certainly never doubted him. The roar which greeted his arrival was as loud, if not louder, to the one before Sunday’s final.

After Peaty then made a start which was noticeably quicker than the one in the 100m, the volume only further increased.

At half distance it looked as though Australia’s Sam Williamson, the fastest qualifier, might last the pace but at that point Peaty, as he has done so often before, pulled clear. This time, he could not be caught. Just as some might have been preparing to write his obituary, he added another chapter to his legend.

Asked what he had learned about himself in recent days, Peaty replied: “That I can be a mardy b*****d!

“I was really bad on Monday. I had nothing to fight with. My spirit was low, my mental side was low. As soon as I woke up this morning I thought, you know what? I am a fighter.

“It just shows that even if the odds are stacked against you, give yourself the chance to pick yourself up and go for it. That is what I did tonight.

“I probably shouldn’t have gone that fast. I had not done that speed since 2020. It is good, I am in a good spot now because I have the hunger for the 100 and also the victory which will keep me in good spirits.

“I have struggled. Really, really struggled to be honest. I have just been going in there with my heart and my soul. It took until today, the end of the meet, for me to find what it is all about.”

Peaty will now take a four week break before returning to training but admitted he did not feel like partying.

“I feel like working,” he said. That is dangerous for me and everyone else. I guess my family will make me take a rest and that is a probably a good thing. It is a long two years to Paris and I don’t want to burn out.”

The family were there to witness his resurrection and after receiving his medal Peaty climbed the stands to show it to his tearful partner Eiri and son George. Few would have predicted him being one of the Games’ biggest redemption stories but this has been no ordinary week.

The final action of the night saw Freya Anderson claim her fourth relay medal of the Games. Anderson, already with two silvers and bronze in her collection, added another bronze in the 4x100m mixed medley relay, overtaking South Africa's Aimee Canny on the anchor leg.

The 21-year-old had earlier finished fifth in the 100m freestyle final, a race which featured another Australian shutout with Mollie O’Callaghan taking gold.

Anderson is also pencilled in for the 400m freestyle, though it remains to be seen whether she will actually compete after what has been a busy week of racing.

There was disappointment, meanwhile, for Welshpool’s Dan Jones, as he failed to qualify for tonight’s 50m freestyle final.