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Peaty Punches A 59-Sec Opener After A Screw Loose Gets Sorted
Adam Ramsay-Peaty - back in Commonwealth Waters for England in 2026 - Photo0 By Ian MacNicol

Peaty Punches A 59-Sec Opener After A Screw Loose Gets Sorted

Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2026 - Day 1 Heats ... a screw loose and a lane line floating away from the wall caused a first-morning delay of 10 minutes before Adam Ramsay-Peaty could take to his blocks...

Craig Lord profile image
by Craig Lord

Some keen battles were set up in heats on day 1 here in Tollcross International Pool this morning - and ahead of finals here's a quick trawl of qualifiers and the story of the first morning - a screw loose and a race delayed.

England's Adam Ramsay-Peaty was waiting to go in the final line-up of six heats, Australia's Sam Williamson still in the water after delivering the first sub-minute in the 100m breaststroke heats.

Pop! Lane line floats away from the wall.

In four decades of swimming coverage, I've never see a modern lane line pop free because a screw came loose. There's a first for everything.

It was the lane line between lane six and seven - and it took about 10 minutes to fix. Craig Hunter, the senior official at the swimming in Glasgow and chief of referees at global and European levels, told SOS "never!" when we asked him if he had ever seen the likes in all his decades on the deck.

After a 59.48 in the last heat as fastest qualifiers for semis, Peaty was asked if the delay had thrown him:

"It doesn't help does it, but you know that happens in sport, in at any sport, stuff goes wrong. Obviously it doesn't help losing all that heat, and you're preparing, and it's an extra 10 minutes where you're losing hydration I guess. But you know what, I have done a lot better in worse conditions. 
"Even if it's a first, it happens scoreboard's break, blocks break, that's just part of sport and you know the guys got it together pretty well it's only ten minutes right so hopefully it doesn't happen again before the semi."

The Race:

Australian Zac Stubblety Cook was asked the same question. He said:

"I've never had to wait that long, but I was lucky I had all my heat jacket and gear behind the blocks, so I think it was lucky they caught it because the officials were like no clue that it was happening until a couple of us caught out. Yeah, it was my lane. And then I overheard the officials say, 'you're gonna have to hold it, and I was like please don't tell me that's for the race? I think it was just to hold it so I didn't run away too far, but yeah, it was like a little bit worried for us ever.
"They were debating on which lifeguard was going to jump in for a little while, but we got there in the end and that's sport, right? It's just unfortunate it was in my race, but (fellow Australian) Bailey (Lello) and I can be happy that we got through to the semi and hopefully it doesn't happen again... " 

The qualifiers - finals, then semi-finals:

Semis:

Men's 100 breaststroke

Men's 50 backstroke

Women's 50 'fly

Craig Lord profile image
by Craig Lord

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