On one functioning leg and off the back just two hours sleep, Adam Peaty bounced back from his 100metre breaststroke defeat to saunter into the final of the 50m.
Peaty had tossed and turned in bed on Sunday night, traumatised by his fourth place over the longer distance in a seismic shock at these Commonwealth Games on Sunday night.
But the 27-year-old showed glimpses of his old self as he recovered from a slow start to win his semi-final and qualify fastest for the final in a time of 27.03seconds.
The man who eclipsed him to 100m gold, teammate James Wilby, was a little over half a second back in second to also make the final.
Peaty had talked of having lost his spark in training in recent weeks and months following the earlier lost, not to mention the physical issues he has had to overcome in Birmingham.
But 10 weeks on from breaking his foot, his form in both the heats and semi-finals, even with the lack of sleep, suggested he is the man to beat once again.
The renewal of the ongoing rivalry between Tom Dean and Duncan Scott ended up with Dean getting the edge, albeit in a scrap for the silver medal in the 100m freestyle.
Kyle Chalmers, though, was in a class of his own for the gold. Embroiled in a spat with the Australian media, he had pleaded to let his swimming do the talking and he did that off as he went off quick.
Dean did his best to go with him but did not quite have enough to claw him in at the end o the race.
“Really happy with that,” said Dean with his silver.” It’s such a great result and so much fun. I knew I was going to have to go with him. He’s such a strong swimmer and his back end is so great.”
