Peaty secures Budapest spot – and gives away gold

Olympic champion Adam Peaty booked his passage to the Budapest World Championships yesterday with another sub-58 second time in the 100 metres breaststroke at the British Championships, then gave away his latest gold medal to a 10-year-old boy in the crowd.

The 22-year-old clocked 57.79 seconds to win the British Championships in Sheffield, close to his own world record of 57.13secs, and was the only swimmer at Ponds Forge to automatically secure a ticket to the Worlds in Hungary later this summer.

The sport’s poster boy was the star turn at the British Championships’ opening night, with one boy the lucky recipient of his medal after he picked him out in the crowd and asked if he wanted his prize.

“Hopefully that medal will inspire him every day now,” said Peaty.

Scot Hannah Miley added the British 400m individual medley title to her accolades in a time of 4mins 34secs.

James Guy, a 2015 world champion in the 200m freestyle and a silver medallist over double that distance, won the 400m freestyle in 3mins 44.74secs.

Double Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin finished third in a 200m freestyle race that was won by Eleanor Faulkner, while Imogen Clark set a new British record of 30.21secs to claim the 50m breaststroke title, with Chris WalkerHebborn winning the men’s backstroke over the same distance.

Adam Peaty in the 100m breaststroke final.