Martinenghi upsets Peaty, Marchand delivers gold for France in thrilling night of Olympic Swimming
In a dramatic evening at La Defense Arena, Adam Peaty’s bid for a third consecutive 100m breaststroke gold was thwarted by Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi. The Italian touched first in 59.03 seconds, edging out Peaty and American Nic Fink, who both clocked 59.05 to share silver. Peaty’s defeat ended his quest to join Michael Phelps as the only men to win three straight Olympic titles in the same event.
“It’s been a very long way back,” Peaty said tearfully. “It doesn’t matter what the time is, to me I’ve already won. It took so much to get here. In my heart I have won, these are happy tears.”
France’s Leon Marchand electrified the home crowd with a spectacular performance in the 400m individual medley, winning in 4:02.95. Trained by Phelps’ former coach Bob Bowman, the 22-year-old was the favorite after breaking Phelps’ world record last year. “The atmosphere was amazing,” Marchand said. “I had goosebumps before, and during the race too.”
Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita took silver, and American Carson Foster claimed bronze.
In the women’s 100m butterfly, Torri Huske triumphed over American teammate Gretchen Walsh, winning in 55.59. Walsh, the world record holder, finished second, and China’s Zhang Yufei took bronze.
“I don’t really remember my race that much,” Huske admitted. “It’s just very overwhelming when you’ve been training for this moment for so long.”
Defending women’s 200m freestyle champion Ariarne Titmus and teammate Mollie O’Callaghan advanced to the final, with Titmus clocking 1:54.64 and O’Callaghan 1:54.70. David Popovici led the men’s 200m freestyle heats in 1:44.53, ahead of Britain’s Duncan Scott and American Luke Hobson.
In other heats, South Africa’s Tatjana Smith topped the women’s 100m breaststroke, while China’s Xu Jiayu set the pace in the men’s 100m backstroke, followed by Italian Thomas Ceccon and American Ryan Murphy.
(Source: AFP)
