Dominant Adam Peaty aims to be ‘fastest boy’ as he seeks third Olympic gold

Adam Peaty said he was ‘loving it again’ as he aims to be the ‘fastest boy’ in his quest to seal a historic third Olympic Games Men’s 100m Breaststroke gold medal.

The double defending champion was the fastest qualifier in the semi-final, clocking 58.86 to secure lane four in tomorrow’s final at the Paris La Defense Arena.

He put on a dominant display to lead at the halfway stage and eventually beat American Nic Fink by 0.30 seconds.

Peaty has spoken openly about his struggles with his mental health in the past two years but he is raring to go as he bids to follow his Rio and Tokyo gold medals with victory in the French capital.

He said: “It may be an Olympic final tomorrow but it will be an absolute privilege to be out there.

“This sport is so testing, so testing but you can’t beat that. A really great crowd, I enjoyed it and I’m loving it again.”

When asked if his son knew what daddy was doing, Peaty said: “Don’t even talk about my son as he makes me cry.

“He goes ‘daddy, are you the fastest boy’? That’s what he says. Even if I haven’t seen him for two weeks – that’s all he cares about.

“I guess I just want to be the fastest boy tomorrow – keep it simple.

“I’ve a lot to work on still technically. It’s really tough on the back end as I know this field has been a bit slower, all respect due.

“But it’s the way the Olympics work. It’s not about the time here, it’s about the races.”

Commonwealth Games champion James Wilby was fifth in the same semi-final, touching home in 59.94 for 11th place overall.

Great effort from relay teams

Team GB’s 4x100m Freestyle relay teams both missed out on podium places but gave it their all.

The Men’s team finished fifth in a time of 3:11.61, 0.91 seconds behind the third-placed Italians in a race which was dominated by the United States, who were 1.07 ahead of silver medallists Australia.

Matt Richards led the team off and clocked  as Team GB were fourth after the first leg.

Jacob Whittle (48.54) and Tom Dean (47.72) saw the British quartet fifth as Duncan Scott took over for the final 100m.

He recorded a time of 47.52 as they narrowly missed out on a podium place.

Richards said: “It’s obviously frustrating as we really wanted to try and get in there and get a medal tonight so it’s tough to be on the wrong side of it.

“But I think we all put in a great effort, all four of us. We couldn’t have asked for much more – it was an honest effort.”

Whittle added: “We messed a few things up there but it happens. We’re all human. We’re pleased with it, an Olympic final, a great venue so can’t complain.”

Hold heads high

Dean said: “We needed to put together some pretty incredible form.

“There are so many things to get right in a relay. We all swam solid swims but everything has got to be perfect to come home with some silverware. So, next time.”

Scott added: “I think it shows where we have come in the four by one as we’re pretty disappointed with fifth.

“But as Britain coming fifth is the highest we have finished in God knows how long, we have to hold our heads high. 

“We all have other events coming up this week which is pretty exciting but this is not the start we wanted.”

The Women’s 4x100m team of Anna Hopkin, Eva Okaro, Lucy Hope and Freya Anderson finished seventh in a time of 3:35.25.

Hopkin got off to a flying start and was leading after the first 50m but couldn’t maintain that pace as she touched home in 53.31.

Okaro (53.75), Hope (54.95) and Anderson (53.24) put on battling performances but they were 6.33 seconds adrift of the Australian team who took the gold medal in an Olympic record of 3:28.92.

Seventeen-year-old Okaro, who was making her Olympic Games debut, said: “I am honoured to be in this position. I think it’s an incredible achievement just to have got here.  It’s our first Olympic final with the girls and it was so much fun. 

“They have all been very welcoming and very encouraging. Especially because it’s my first Olympics. They have been to other Olympics so it is nice for them to see youngsters coming up through the team. I really enjoy doing it with them.”

In the Women’s 100m Butterfly semi-final, Keanna MacInnes missed out on a final spot as she finished 16th overall in 58.11.