DRIVEN BY A SHEER FORCE OF NATURE
Peaty and Scott help fire Brits to relay gold
THE biggest roar of the night, naturally, came when local hero Duncan Scott stormed home to claim his third gold medal of the week with a championship record.
The moment of the night, though, had been witnessed just over two-and-a-half minutes earlier.
Its architect? The magnificent Adam Peaty. Make no mistake, the final of the 4 x 100metres medley relay, the penultimate race of the evening at Tollcross, was something worth waiting for.
Scott had a handy lead of almost two seconds when he plunged into the pool in the wake of a strong leg from James Guy, fresh from his earlier bronze in the 100m butterfly, and was never going to be caught.
It says much for the 21-year-old Scot’s continuing progression at this level that he stretched even further clear of Russia’s Vladimir Morozov to bring Team GB home in 3:30.44.
Victory hadn’t always been so certain, though. Young Nick Pyle, still four months from his 18th birthday, stuck in well during the opening backstroke leg, but Britain were lying fourth at the changeover, 1.81 seconds behind leaders Russia.
Enter Peaty. This might not have been the 23-year-old Olympic champion at his very fastest but, my goodness, he was breathtaking all the same. The man is a machine. And last night, he simply bullied everyone into submission.
Within 50metres, Peaty was in front, demolishing Anton Chupkov, Monday’s 200m breaststroke champion, and all other challengers to his right in the smooth, inexorable way a basking shark might hoover up plankton. By the time he handed over to Guy, it was pretty much a done deal.
The race marked Peaty’s fourth gold of the championships to go with the 50m and 100m breaststroke and the 4x100m mixed medley. He picked up a world record along the way, too. It has been a joy having him in Glasgow and, in his team-mate Scott, he clearly sees someone making serious progress in the heat of competition ahead of the ultimate goal of Tokyo in 2020.
‘I knew as soon as he (Scott) dived in that no one was going to be overtaking him,’ said Peaty. ‘No way. Not on Scottish soil.
‘Duncan is becoming a born racer, pretty much. He is becoming who he is meant to be in the arena.
‘That 200m freestyle the other day was proof of that. It was a stormer from the outside lane and shows semi-finals don’t mean anything. It is part of learning.’
Scott is in with the biggest of the big boys and admits himself that standing poolside watching the kind of performance Peaty delivered last night is a powerful propellant in itself.
‘It is pretty special, you know?,’ said Scott, whose three European golds will be transported home with a silver from the 100m freestyle.
‘I came into that team a couple of years ago and I really had to step up my performances with the likes of Jimmy and Peaty being in it.
‘Myself and Nick are in there with individual world medallists and Peaty is someone who is so far in front of the rest of the field that you have to go in there with confidence. This is a great way to finish, but I definitely think there is more to come.’
Who knows what more Peaty can deliver after an incredible 12 golds from the last three European Championships. Certainly, last night, the Scottish crowd saw just what a relentless competitor he is.
‘I knew I had to go out fast and I knew that I had to spook him (Chupkov) and put him off his pace,’ he said. ‘It is about the race, getting the best out of yourself and the worst out of the person next to you.
‘I came here trying to trick my mind, saying: “It is not a World Championships or an Olympics. It doesn’t matter for me”. But when I get here, I’m like: “Go on, then, let’s ‘ave It”.’
With the women taking bronze in the relay immediately afterwards, Team GB’s swimming corps finished with a grand total of nine golds and 24 medals to match the previous best of Berlin 2014.
Ben Proud, third fastest in history over the 50m freestyle, got the night off to a good start by seeing off a late challenge from Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece to grab gold.
However, the 23-year-old Englishman admitted to a certain degree of disappointment at winning in 21.34s after recording a spectacular 21.11s in his semi-final on Wednesday night.
‘It was a good enough swim to get my hand on the wall first, but I can’t be doing that in a major championships,’ said Proud. ‘It’s mixed feelings.’
Max Litchfield had to make do with silver after a thrilling battle with David Verraszto of Hungary in the 400m individual medley final and Imogen Clark, in her debut competition at international level, came a terrific second to Russian Yuliya Efimova in the 50m breaststroke.
Holly Hibbott took bronze in the 400m freestyle on a night when Peaty admitted he has enjoyed the Glasgow experience so much he may well return in December 2019 for the European Short Course Championships.
‘It was incredible,’ said Peaty of the atmosphere. ‘Nothing like it. It shows the passion that Scottish, and European, fans have got.
‘I am not doing the world short course this year, but I might come here next year — just for the experience.’
Note the dates. It’s not every day you get the chance to see a bona-fide phenomenon.