Top marks for golden guy Peaty
ADAM PEATY surged to his third gold medal at the European Championships with victory in the men’s 50 m breastroke.
The Briton washed away memories of his shock defeat in the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April as he won the title ahead of second-placed Fabio Scozzoli, who finished almost threequarters of a second behind.
Peaty’s winning time of 26.09 in Glasgow may not have threatened his existing worldrecord mark but it did shave over half a second off the time with which he surprisingly had to settle for silver at the Commonwealth Games. And THE SCOUT it was still a strong enough showing to suggest to Peaty – who has already broken his own 100m record at these Games and goes for another relay title today – that he can set new marks at next year’s World Championships in Gwangju.
Peaty said: “Execution-wise I was probably a nine and a half out of 10, but for the race itself I would give myself 10 out of 10. I missed a few strokes that maybe cost me but I don’t think even then I’d have got the world record.
“But it’s looking very strong for next year – very good technique-wise and powerwise, and I’m looking forward to getting around that mark in South Korea.” Buoyant Peaty will bid for a fourth and final gold in the men’s 100m medley relay.
England’s Rio silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor finished a disappointing fourth in the women’s 200m individual medley behind winner Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.
And 17-year-old Freya Anderson, from Merseyside, also finished fourth in the women’s 100m freestyle final behind Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, but set a new European junior record of 53.61 in the process.
There was more diving success for Great Britain as Grace Reid and Ross Haslam teamed up to take silver in the mixed synchronised 3m springboard in Edinburgh.