Disappointed Adam Peaty settles for bronze in 100m breaststroke; Kate Douglass seals back-to-back wins

DOHA – Briton Adam Peaty’s hopes of a confidence-boosting win in the 100m breaststroke were dashed on Feb 12, as the double Olympic champion in the event was forced to settle for bronze behind American winner Nic Fink at the World Aquatics Championships.

On the comeback trail after taking a mental health break in 2023, world record holder Peaty qualified fastest for the final at the Aspire Dome with a time of 58.60 seconds but was half a second slower with the title on the line.

Fink, who has a silver and bronze from the past two editions, won in 58.57sec, with Italy’s 2022 world champion Nicolo Martinenghi taking silver, 0.27sec adrift.

“The swimming speed is fine. Over the next five months, I know that is only going to improve and that is my thing, but the skills are just not good enough at this moment,” said the 29-year-old Peaty, who is aiming for a third straight gold in the event at the 2024 Paris Games.

“So it is bittersweet because we did not come here for medals. I wasn’t really too fussed about aiming for a medal here because that is just not the target.

“We’ve come off a hard bank of work and last night gave me a glimmer of hope thinking I could get even faster today.

“I pushed it a little too far in the first 50 (metres) but, in the end, it’s good to be a part of (this).

“Definitely not an easy race to do... Of course, we’ve got a long way to go.”

Fink’s fellow American Kate Douglass retained her 200m individual medley title, burning away in the final freestyle leg to earn a time of 2min 7.05sec.

A body length behind was Canada’s Sydney Pickrem who took silver (2:08:56) with China’s Yu Yiting (2:09.01) completing the podium.

“That definitely hurt a lot. A lot more than it usually does at the end of the race. I’m really happy with it,” said Douglass.

Germany’s Angelina Kohler won the women’s 100m butterfly title in a relatively weak field missing 2023 world champion Zhang Yufei and runner-up Maggie Mac Neil.

The 23-year-old burst into tears in the pool after winning in 56.28sec, 0.33sec ahead of American silver medallist Claire Curzan and Swede Louise Hansson (56.94sec).

It was the German’s first world medal of any colour at her fourth championships.

A day after electrifying the championships with the 100m freestyle world record in the men’s 4x100m relay, China’s Pan Zhanle failed to reach the 200m free semi-finals, an event he was expected to contend for medals.

The 19-year-old never got out of second gear, posting a time of 1:51.03, more than six seconds off his personal best.

Pan’s surprising performance may be with a view to the 100m free for which he will be a strong favourite. The heats start on Feb 14.

There was also disappointment for defending champion Ahmed Hafnaoui as he failed to advance from the 800m free preliminaries in another setback after his 400m let-down.

The Tunisian was only 18th fastest in the heats, with his time of 7:51.72 more than 14 seconds off his championship-winning swim at Fukuoka last July.

Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys emerged as a surprise top seed for the 200m free final, clocking 1:44.96.

In the absence of world champion Ryan Murphy and world record holder Thomas Ceccon, American Hunter Armstrong capitalised to qualify fastest for the men’s 100m backstroke final in 53.04sec.

Curzan was fastest for the final of the women’s event, storming to victory in her semi-final in 58.73sec.

With title holder Katie Ledecky skipping Doha, Italy’s former world champion Simona Quadarella is in the box seat for a second 1,500m freestyle gold, qualifying quickest in the heats in 16:02.96.

Singapore’s swimmers did not have an easy outing on Feb 12. Letitia Sim missed out on a berth in the women’s 100m breaststroke final with the 11th-fastest time of 1:07.14 in the semi-finals.

In the women’s 200m freestyle heats, Ashley Lim’s time of 2:05.05 placed her 36th out of 50 competitors. Glen Lim clocked 8:09.34 in the men’s 800m free heats, finishing 34th out of 45 and also failing to qualify for the semi-finals.
REUTERS, AFP