Peaty has been widely fancied to become Britain’s first male Olympic champion in swimming since Adrian Moorhouse in 1988.
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He broke his own world record in Saturday’s heat, qualifying in 57.55 and was just 0.07 seconds slower in Saturday night’s semi-final.
Defending champion Sun clocked 3:44:23 to advance to men’s 400m freestyle final, which will take place in the evening, while Corner Dwyer from the United States finished first, 0.81 seconds ahead of Sun.
“I thought the best possible race I could do would be get to 57.3 so to get 57.1 is something else”.
“It’s a great swim from him, obviously, a new world record – anytime you do you do that is really special, ” said the South African.
There was little doubt on the destination for the gold in the 400m individual medley as Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won in a world record of 4:26.36.
The British swimmer Adam Peaty set up a new world record in the men’s 100m breaststroke during the qualification race this morning.
“I can’t really describe what it was like but coming home with that crowd roaring is what I’ve always dreamed of”, he said. My parents have been there from the absolute start and they’ve kept me grounded.
Everybody now loves Britain’s first Rio gold medallist Adam Peaty but grime artist Jaykae was already his number one fan.
Defending champion Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, whose 2012 world record Peaty took in April 2015, had to settle for silver in 58.69 and Cody Miller of the USA won the bronze in 58.87.
“Four years ago I was sitting in the aquatics stadium watching from the sidelines, cheering everyone on and now I have a medal”.
She said: “I would never have been able to guide him to this if I had not had that experience myself. Nothing means more to me than racing for my country, racing for the Queen and the Royal Family, racing for my family”.
“I wasn’t going full pelt”, said Hagino. “We’re going to keep pushing the boundary”, he told reporters. “It’s not like someone is holding a gun at the end of the lane, so I’ve got nothing to lose”.
And when he triumphed in Rio the 74-year-old, who brands herself as the OlympicNan, tweeted from the Mavise42Mavis account: “My Grandson has done it”.
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“I can’t wait to get home now to my nan and give her a massive hug”. As wide as Christ the Redeemer’s outstretched arms, it lit up Rio more spectacularly than any carnival as he claimed Great Britain’s first gold of these Olympic Games.
