{"id":577634,"date":"2024-02-12T09:19:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=577634"},"modified":"2024-02-12T13:21:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T20:21:12","slug":"world-championships-day-two-finals-nic-fink-wins-100m-breaststroke-gold-ahead-of-nicolo-martinenghi-adam-peaty-returns-to-world-podium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-day-two-finals-nic-fink-wins-100m-breaststroke-gold-ahead-of-nicolo-martinenghi-adam-peaty-returns-to-world-podium\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships, Day Two Finals: Nic Fink Wins 100 Breast Ahead Of Nicolo Martinenghi; Adam Peaty Returns To Podium"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships, Day Two Finals: Nic Fink Wins 100m Breaststroke Gold Ahead Of Nicolo Martinenghi; Adam Peaty Returns To Podium<\/h4>\n

Nic Fink<\/strong> won the 100m breaststroke gold to add the world long-course title to his short-course crown in Doha.<\/p>\n

The USA athlete had a huge start, coming up well in front, to lead throughout despite the attack of Adam Peaty<\/strong>, to take the title in 58.57 and claim his country’s first gold of the World Championships<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nicolo Martinenghi<\/strong> came from fifth at halfway to take second in 58.84 following the fastest second 50 of 31.41 with Peaty clinching bronze in 59.19 as he returned to the world long-course podium for the first time since Gwangju 2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Fink now has a medal of each colour at the last three worlds with silver in Fukuoka last year in a three-way tie with Arno Kamminga<\/strong> and Martinenghi which followed bronze at Budapest 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Splits:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

26.98\/31.59: Fink<\/p>\n

27.53\/31.41: Martinenghi<\/p>\n

27.08\/32.02: Peaty<\/p>\n

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Nic Fink: photo courtesy: Andrea Masini\/Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Fink said:<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s definitely crazy getting the first worlds gold in 100m breaststroke at the age of 30.<\/p>\n

“The fact I was able to accomplish so much in my career and I\u2019m still experiencing new things is being really fun right now.<\/p>\n

“To keep experiencing firsts at this point of my career, that\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n

“The race has been super awesome, it\u2019s been a super fun ride.<\/p>\n

“So many fast names are here in breaststroke, that group is gearing so fast here, and I\u2019m just happy I put my hands on the wall first.”<\/p>\n

“I had goals here in Doha and that was one, to win this one. I\u2019m really happy with my time, it\u2019s great.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fink will be reunited with the likes of Peaty and Martinenghi in the 50m in which he won the world title at Budapest 2022 followed by silver in 2023.<\/p>\n

He added:<\/p>\n

“My next goal will be to win the 50m breaststroke too.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve got a great sports staff, my team, my wife, my family, they all support me and it makes it a whole lot easier. It\u2019s not just like technical help you get, it\u2019s everything outside the water, too.<\/p>\n

“When you get to swim in a quality race like this and you win gold, you know trials are going to seem a lot less stressful.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Nicolo Martinenghi: photo courtesy: Giorgio Perottino \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Martinenghi won gold in Budapest two years ago before straight silvers in Fukuoka and Doha.<\/p>\n

The Italian bronze medallist said:<\/p>\n

“It was an insane race, a very strange one.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s my third (100m breaststroke) medal in three different World Championships, so I can\u2019t be happier than now.<\/p>\n

“It was tough for me last year, so I\u2019m really proud of myself and my team. It was a good race.<\/p>\n

“Swimming is a continuous race against yourself and against time. Sometimes it\u2019s tough, but it\u2019s what we do, what we love doing. So, I want to improve myself a little bit every day.”<\/p>\n

Although defending champion Qin Haiyang bypassed Doha, it was a quality field including all the Tokyo medallists.<\/p>\n

Martinenghi added:<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s always a pleasure to compete against the best. I saw Nic next to me and I tried to catch him.<\/p>\n

“We (Martinenghi and his team) are going in the right way, and we will continue to push.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t know how close I was to winning today, but I have a lot of work to do. I have to focus on myself.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Peaty had\u00a0never been beaten in an individual final over 50 or 100m at worlds and won the double at Kazan 2015<\/strong>, Budapest 2017<\/strong> and Gwangju 2019<\/strong>, where he set his world record of 56.88.<\/p>\n

However, the 29-year-old missed Budapest 2022 because of a foot injury and withdrew from the British trials for Fukuoka last year to focus on his mental health.<\/p>\n

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Nicolo\u2019 Martinenghi of Italy, silver, Nic Fink of United States of America, gold, Adam Peaty of Great Britain: photo courtesy: A.Staccioli\/Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Peaty told Swimming World<\/a> last year that he had considered quitting \u201ca thousand times,” such was the severity of his desolation and loneliness, in early 2023.<\/p>\n

He qualified fastest in 58.60 – his best time since Tokyo gold – and of his bronze, he said:<\/p>\n

\n
“It’s bittersweet because we didn’t come here for medals, I wasn’t really too fussed about aiming for those medals here because that’s just not the target, we’ve come off a hard bank of work.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Last night gave me a little glimmer of hope that I could get faster even today, and maybe I would have if I’d executed those skills.\u00a0 I’m disappointed in that, but I have also got to make sure I don’t wear it, because it has been a long time since I’ve been in this.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“You’ve got to get that balance right. My happiness now in the sport comes from knowing I couldn’t have done anything more, and tonight I knew I could have done something more.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“But I said out there that if I’d got what I wanted tonight and maybe it would have equalled the best possible performance I could have done here, maybe that would have been just as dangerous as not getting what I wanted, because this is going to push me, to make sure we’re executing those skills perfectly.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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