Adam Peaty 'three-peat' 100m breaststroke dream dies as Brit takes silver at Paris 2024 behind Nicolo Martinenghi

Adam Peaty took joint-silver in the men's 100m breaststroke final at Paris 2024 as his attempt to win gold was scuppered by Italian Nicolo Martinenghi. After winning the title in the same event in Rio and Tokyo, Peaty had been aiming for a 'three-peat' but despite leading on the home straight, he was beaten to the touch by the Italian, sharing silver with American Nic Fink.

Great Britain’s Adam Peaty narrowly missed out on a historic Olympic 'three-peat' as he had to settle for joint-silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke, with Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi claiming gold.

Peaty came into the Paris 2024 Games as the back-to-back defending champion and was attempting to join the great American Michael Phelps as the only other swimmer to win three consecutive Olympic golds in the same event.

There were doubts whether he would even feature in the French capital after taking a break from the sport due to feeling burnt out, but the 29-year-old recovered in time.

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He stopped the clock at 59.05 seconds to share silver with USA’s Nic Fink, just 0.02 seconds behind Martinenghi in what was a slow final.

The Brit was sluggish off the blocks but recovered to make the turn in second behind China’s Qin Haiyang before the three medallists battled to the wall.

And it was the Italian who timed his reach to perfection to bring Peaty’s period of dominance to an end.

'I couldn't give it more' - Emotional Peaty reflects on silver medal in 100m breaststroke

Video credit: TNT Sports

German duo Melvin Imoudu and Lucas Matzerath finished fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands.

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Another big surprise was the performance of Haiyang. The men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke world champion led after 50m but faded badly to finish seventh.

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