Peaty makes return to pool on day two heats at the Commonwealth Games

Day two of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games saw Adam Peaty make his return to the pool in this morning’s heats.

The three-time Commonwealth champion returned to action following his fractured foot that forced him to sit out the recent FINA World Swimming Championships.

Peaty received the biggest cheer of the session as he powered through to qualify for tonight’s 100m Breaststroke semi-finals after being the only swimmer to break the one-minute barrier.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Peaty set a time of 59.92, which won him his heat ahead of Australia’s Sam Williamson, who was the next fastest qualifier.

A repeat performance in tonight’s semi-final will give Peaty the chance to defend his Commonwealth title that he won in both 2018 and 2014.

On his return to action, Peaty said: “I’ve blown the cobwebs out. I didn’t really need to do anything in the morning.

“I saw the heats come through and thought, ‘you know what, it’s going to be a waste of energy going fast this morning’.  We’ll see how we go tonight.

“That’s only my third race this year. I’d normally do about 20 by now.

“It is what it is. It’s all about where we are in heats, how it felt and how I can improve.

“It felt a lot faster than a 59.9 [seconds] but hey ho, that’s a timing board for you.”

Peaty won’t be the lone Team England representative in this evening’s 100m Breaststroke semi-finals as both James Wilby and Greg Butler also qualified.

On the back of his silver medal yesterday, Wilby stormed to victory in a time of 1:00.62.

He finished only 0.70 seconds off Peaty’s time and 0.31 ahead of Joshua Yong, who finished second in his heat.

Wilby led from the off and has put himself in a strong position to challenge for another medal should he get through tonight’s semi-final.

Butler continued his fine form from yesterday – where he made the 200m Breaststroke final – by qualifying for the 100m final this morning.

He finished as the eleventh-fastest swimmer overall with a time of 1:01.59.

Tom Dean sets up another head-to-head with Duncan Scott

Tom Dean came off the back of his silver medal in the relay yesterday to set up a head-to-head clash with British team-mate Duncan Scott in this evening’s 200m Freestyle final.

England’s Dean won his heat with a time of 1:47.19 as he qualified as the third-fastest swimmer for tonight’s final.

Scotland’s Scott was one of the swimmers that qualified faster than Dean as he set a time of 1:47.16, only 0.03 quicker than Dean.

Neither of the pair could match the time of Australia’s Elijah Winnington, however, as he was the quickest swimmer with a time of 1:46.87.

Dean won’t be the only English swimmer in the final, though, as Joe Litchfield just did enough to take the last qualification spot.

The Loughborough Performance Centre swimmer came in as the eighth-fastest swimmer in a time of 1:48.44.

That was 1.57 seconds behind the fastest time as he makes the final on his Commonwealth Games debut.

Cameron Kurle also took part in the event for Team England but just missed out on a place in the final after finishing 12^th-quickest overall.

His time of a 1:48.94 was only half a second off a place in the final.

Hopkin and Hindley both make 50m Freestyle semi-final

Anna Hopkin and Isabella Hindley both qualified for the Women’s 50m Freestyle semi-finals.

The Team England pair both swam in the eighth of the nine heats and finished second and third with times of 24.77 and 25.31 respectively.

Hopkin is looking to add to her silver medal as part of the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle relay yesterday with another medal in this event.

Her time sent her through as the fourth-fastest swimmer overall, with Hindley in seventh as the Team England duo look to make it into tomorrow’s final.

A new personal best for Cox

Lauren Cox impressed in the Women’s 100m Backstroke setting a new personal best time as she qualified fifth fastest for this evening’s semi-finals.

Cox set a new best time of 1:00.77 to knock 0.05 off her previous best that she set at the British Swimming Championships earlier this year.

The Loughborough University swimmer will now head into the semi-finals in a confident mood as she looks to progress to the final in her Commonwealth Games debut.

Men’s relay qualify second fastest

The quartet of Ed Mildred, Joe Litchfield, Jamie Ingram and Cameron Kurle qualified second fastest for the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle relay final.

The Team England swimmers went in heat two and clocked a time of 3:16.93, finishing 1.29 behind the Australians.

Litchfield swam the fastest leg (48.95), following on from Mildred’s opening 100m time of 49.22.

Ingram swam a time of 49.15 in the third leg and Kurle’s anchor swim saw him clock in at 49.61 to comfortably earn a place in day two’s finals session.