GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) - Adam Peaty has gone full cycle, defending his Commonwealth Games title in the 100-meter breaststroke on Saturday to complete a four-year unbeaten run in the event.
Since winning at Glasgow in 2014, Peaty has won an Olympic and two world titles over the distance and is showing no signs of ending the streak.
The 23-year-old Englishman set a games record 58.84 seconds to secure gold, finishing more than a half-second ahead of compatriot James Wilby and South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh was third.
“Even though it is a gold medal, four years undefeated and it has completed the circle or the quad, I’m not happy with that form because it is not the best version of me,” Peaty said. “That was the first time ever I did not feel in control of the race - I let the event get to me and thought about the result not the process.”
Chad le Clos became the first man to win the same event at three Commonwealth Games when he led from start to finish in the 200 butterfly and finished in a games record time of 1 minute, 54 seconds. Le Clos entered the games hoping to beat the record of 18 career medals at the games but can’t do that on the Gold Coast now after missing the podium in two of his first three events. Still, the 200 fly gave him a 14th career medal at the games.
The swimming golds were more evenly distributed on Day 3 after Australia’s dominance in the pool the previous night.
Canada’s world record-holder Kylie Masse edged Australian Emily Seebohm by 0.03 seconds to win the 100 backstroke in a games record 58.63 and Tatjana Schoenmaker won the women’s 200 breaststroke.
Cate Campbell won the 50 freestyle for the home team and the Australians finished off the pool program with victory in the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay in a games record 7:48.04.
Australia topped the overall medal standings with 20 golds, six ahead of England and 15 clear of Canada.
In other events on Day 3:
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CYCLING - Sam Webster won the men’s sprint when he beat Jack Carlin of Scotland 2-0 in the final, giving him a second gold for the games after helping New Zealand win the team sprint.
His run to the title included a semifinal win over Malaysia’s Muhammad Sahrom, who had an upset win over world champion Matt Glaetzer earlier in the day.
Glaetzer said he was embarrassed by an elementary error.
“It’s devastating. It was a nightmare unfolding with three-quarters of a lap to go,” he said.
Elinor Barker won the women’s 25-kilometer points race to give Wales its second gold of the games, and Australia picked up two more gold medals via Sam Welsford in the 15-kilometer scratch race and Kaarle McCullogh in the 500-meter time trial.
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IN THE MIX: - Finishing one of the showcase events for gender equity at the Commonwealth Games, Jake Birtwhistle grabbed a boxing kangaroo flag and carried it across the line to clinch the triathlon mixed team relay for Australia.
The team of Gillian Backhouse, Matt Hauser, Ashleigh Gentle and Birtwhistle won the mixed team event at the Broadwater in 1 hour, 17 minutes, 36 seconds on Saturday afternoon, with England settling for silver and New Zealand capturing bronze.
England won the inaugural event at the Glasgow Games four years ago but it was the hosts who were too strong this time, with Gentle turning a 15-second deficit into a 39-second lead during the third leg.
“I can’t believe I’ve got a Commonwealth Games gold medal and to feel as though I gave so much to the team as well, it’s really satisfying,” said Gentle, who missed out on a podium finish in the individual event. “I’m just so glad I was able to perform for the team.”
It means the Brownlee brothers leave the Gold Coast without a gold medal, with world champion Alistair and Jonathan combining with Jess Learmonth and Vicky Holland to get the silver. The brothers missed out on the medals in the individual event.
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WIN OR DRAW? - For Pakistan, this 2-2 draw had the feeling of a win after coming back from an 0-2 deficit and equalizing after the fulltime siren against India.
There’s always underlying emotion in Indo-Pak encounters, and there was no lack of tension in this.
Pakistan was awarded a late penalty corner and Ali Mubashar converted to the delight of his teammates and coach Roelant Oltmans, who has returned to guide Pakistan after a stint with the India team.
Australia’s Kookaburras, the gold-medal favorites, opened with a 4-0 win over South Africa.
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WEIGHTY ISSUES - India’s Sathish Kumar Sivalingham won the 77-kilogram category in the weightlifting by 5 kilograms over England’s Jack Oliver. Yet it was Cameroon-born Francois Etoundi doing backflips after collecting a bronze medal for Australia.
Etoundi injured his left biceps on his second attempt in the clean and jerk but didn’t want to let his coaches know how badly he was hurting.
He went back out and secured the bronze, then accepted his medal with his arm in a sling. His most memorable display for the crowd, though, was undoubtedly a somersault.
“This is my home crowd. I didn’t want to disappoint them,” he said. “I know that if I didn’t have this injury, this would have been a gold medal for sure.”
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GYMNASTICS GOLD - Nile Wilson beat fellow Englishman James Hall in the individual all-around final to claim his second gymnastics gold medal of the games.
Wilson, an Olympic bronze medalist on the horizontal bar, did just enough to win with a combined 84.950.
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SQUASHED - Tesni Evans of Wales beat top-seeded Laura Massaro to move into the Commonwealth Games women’s squash semifinals against another English player, Sarah-Jane Perry.
The 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 15-13 win continued a recent run of wins for Evans against 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Massaro, including the world championships in December.
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