Adam Peaty narrowly claimed 100m breaststroke gold in Kazan
Last Updated: 03/08/15 9:30pm
Adam Peaty of Great Britain has won gold in the 100m breaststroke after a dramatic final at the FINA Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
The world record holder overtook Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh in the closing stages to give Britain their first gold of the meeting.
The 20-year-old trailed Van der Burgh for much of the race and the South African was under world record pace at the turn.
But Commonwealth champion Peaty, who is making his world championships debut, finished with a flourish and overhauled his rival at the wall to triumph in 58.52 seconds.
Van der Burgh finished just 0.07 seconds behind, with Britain’s Ross Murdoch taking third in 59.09.
Peaty said: "I turned and I saw his foot and I was like, 'Right, I've got some catching up to do now'.
"About 25 meters out he was still in front, so I was a bit skeptical. But I remembered that I train for moments like this and I came out on top, thankfully."
Peaty broke Van der Burgh’s 2012 world record earlier this year, becoming the first man in history to go under the 58-second mark.
And this is the first time Britain has a world champion in the event since David Wilkie won the 100 and 200m breaststroke titles at the 1975 championships in Cali, Colombia.
Peaty and Van der Burgh had broken the championship record three times between them in the heats and semi-finals in Kazan en route to the final, and the duo will continue their battle in next summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Peaty is also world record holder in the 50m breaststroke, which gets underway in Kazan on Tuesday, with the final on Wednesday.
Britain finished with three medals on day two of the eight-day swimming meet, because Siobhan-Marie O'Connor claimed the bronze in the women's 200m individual medley.
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden lowered her own world record to win gold in the 100m butterfly, leading at the turn and going on to clock 55.64 seconds and win by a body length.
