England’s James Wilby produced a stunning late surge to take the gold medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but defending champion Adam Peaty finished outside the medals in fourth.
Wilby who won the 200m breaststroke gold on the Gold Coast four years ago edged his way past defending champion Peaty to finish with 59.25 seconds on the clock.
It was then silver and bronze for Australia through Zac Stubblety-Cook (59.52) and Sam Williamson (59.82), as Peaty who led up to and beyond the halfway point settled for fourth place.
Peaty’s participation at the Birmingham Games was initially in doubt due to a broken foot which forced him to miss the World Championships, and he admitted after the 100m that the 2022 Commonwealths would probably be his last.
“I know this is probably my last Commonwealth Games so it’s great. Wilby had a great race. I was a lot slower than yesterday, it was just a bad race,” Peaty told BBC Sport.
“When it comes down to the race sometimes it doesn’t go to plan. I was hurting from the 50m but you know that’s a lack of training, lack of racing… it is what it is.
“I can’t overthink it. I’m a fighter and sometimes you have got to have these moments to keep fighting. Always learning. This is a huge moment for me really because I’m at a part in my career where you choose to go on or keep at it or whatever.”
When asked if he still planned to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Peaty responded: “Yeah of course. The next two years are going to be huge how we attack that now, I don’t know. Because I haven’t done two winter blocks in a long time so it’s back to the drawing board and back to training.”
An overjoyed Wilby added: “I love racing and racing alongside him [Peaty] is always so much fun. Tonight, I was able to execute my race the best I could.
