Adam Peaty was once again left beaming from ear to ear after he brought his own personal tally of gold medals to three at this year’s World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Having already climbed the top step of the podium in the 100m breaststroke, Peaty had high hopes of becoming only the second Brit to win two individual golds at a single World Championships after breaking the 50m world record in his semi-final.
And the 20-year-old did exactly that, once again pipping Cameron Van Der Burgh to the wall by 0.15 seconds to claim another gold.
“That was really good,” Peaty told British Swimming. “I missed a couple of strokes but I just stayed on top of the water.
“It was just a race to touch the wall first and thankfully it was my day.
“I got the world record yesterday and secured the title today – I couldn’t really ask for more.”
But Peaty wasn’t done there, returning to the pool alongside Chris Walker-Hebborn, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Francesca Halsall to set a world record and claim mixed 4x100m medley relay gold.
Walker-Hebborn and Peaty put the Brits in pole position at the half way stage before O’Connor and Halsall strengthened their lead over second-placed USA, ultimately coming home 1.56 seconds clear in 3:41.71 minutes.
And while the mixed medley relay won’t be contested at Rio 2016, Walker-Hebborn admitted he would like to see the event added to the Olympic schedule for Tokyo 2020.
“Some of the big countries entered really strong teams tonight and it was a big fight,” said Walker-Hebborn.
“It’s great to be sat in the call room with familiar male faces and familiar female faces. It definitely brings a different aspect to the competition.
“I think it’s an event which should keep on going and while we might not see it next year, I’d love it to be part of the programme at 2020.”
Stephen Milne was the only other British finalist of the night, finishing seventh in the 800m freestyle on his World Championship debut.
Lauren Quigley and Daniel Wallace both made smooth progress from their 50m backstroke and 200m individual medley semi-finals respectively, while Roberto Pavoni missed out on joining Wallace in an agonisingly close swim-off against American Conor Dwyer.
© Sportsbeat 2015