Ramsay-Peaty beaten again as Australia reign supreme in Commonwealth pool

GLASGOW – Adam Ramsay-Peaty fell short of gold at a fourth Commonwealth Games as the English swimmer was beaten into bronze once more in the 50m breaststroke on another dominant night for Australia in the Glasgow pool.

Three-time Olympic champion Ramsay-Peaty was reduced to tears after finishing third in the 100m breaststroke on July 25 and could not hide his disappointment, even if this time he kept his emotions in check.

Australia’s Sam Williamson completed a double of 50m and 100m breaststroke gold, shocking pre-race favourite Michael Houlie of South Africa, who had to settle for silver.

Williamson’s was one of six Australian golds from seven finals on the night, with only New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt in the 200m butterfly preventing a clean sweep at the top of the podium.

All of England’s four golds in the pool so far have come in the para-swimming events, with Ramsay-Peaty failing to add another Commonwealth title.

The 31-year-old hinted he will keep going to try and compete at a fourth Olympic Games in Los Angeles in two years’ time but struggled to pinpoint the reasons for a disappointing meet.

“I am working way too hard. If those results were how much I am working then they would be a lot better,” said Ramsay-Peaty.

“I need to look at that and adjust course because we are sailing in some rough seas right now and it is not sustainable.”

Williamson’s double gold is all the more remarkable after he suffered a ruptured patella in April 2025 which put his career at risk.

“Just having the opportunity to put the green and gold on again was something I didn’t think I’d ever have the opportunity to do,” said Williamson.

“To come home with two of these little medals in my back pocket, it just makes it even more special.”

Fellow Australian Jenna Forrester won her second gold of the meet in the 400m individual medley to back up her 200m backstroke victory.

Meg Harris led home an Aussie 1-2-3 in the women’s 100m freestyle, while Alex Perkins took gold in the women’s 100m butterfly.

Olympic 800m freestyle champion Daniel Wiffin missed out on the podium as the Northern Irishman finished fourth to another Australia clean sweep of the medals.

Sam Short added the 800m crown to his 400m gold ahead of Benjamin Goedemans and Matthew Galea.

Only a strong finish by Clareburt prevented an Australia taking every gold of the night as he pipped Aussie duo Harrison Turner and Matthew Temple to the wall.

After four days of competition, Australia dominate the medals table with 26 golds to 38 for the other 73 nations combined.

Games just ‘a training day’

There was more Australian joy on the first night of athletics action as Rose Davies won the 10,000m in the absence of injured home favourite Eilish McColgan.

Jamaica’s Demario Prince won the 110m hurdles.

Romaine Beckford added a second Jamaican gold in the high jump on fewer failed attempts after both he and India’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare cleared 2.25m.

Canada’s Ethan Katzberg set a new Games record to win the hammer.

Edmund Serem claimed Kenya’s first gold of the Games in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.

Olympic gymnastics champion Rhys McClenaghan dismissed the Commonwealth Games as a “training day” after he finished a shock sixth in the men’s pommel final as Canada’s Jordan Carroll secured gold.

England’s Luke Whitehouse made up for the disappointing performance in the men’s all-around competition by taking gold in the men’s floor final.

The 24-year-old admitted he had been distracted since teammate Gabriel Langton crashed off the high bar midway through the team final on July 24, requiring an overnight stay in hospital.

“You’ve just got to try and ignore the noise and focus on your routines,” said Whitehouse. “Gabriel’s my room-mate here and to know that he’s fine and doing well, I couldn’t be happier.”

Meanwhile, Singaporean weightlifter Chua Jiin Linn set a new national clean and jerk record with a lift of 94kg in women’s 53kg event on July 27.

The Games debutante’s effort eclipsed the previous mark of 83kg, set by Helena Wong at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia. The 27-year-old registered a total of 168kg to finish sixth overall.

Nigeria’s Onome Didih put up a dominant performance, setting Commonwealth records in the snatch (93kg), clean and jerk (113kg) and total (206kg). India’s Gyaneshwari Yadav took silver with her 199kg total, while Canada’s Rebeka Groulx claimed bronze with 178kg.

In swimming, Singaporeans Teong Tzen Wei and Mikkel Lee also progressed to the semi-finals of the men’s 50m butterfly on July 28.

Teong, who was a silver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, touched the wall at the Tollcross Swimming Centre in 23.80sec to place third in Heat 8 and eighth overall, while Lee’s time of 23.90sec saw him finish fourth in Heat 9 and 10th overall.

Australian Olympic and world champion Kyle Chalmers topped the heats in 23.07sec. They will compete in the semi-finals later after press time on July 28. AFP