Adam Peaty has the chance to prove to his son George that his ‘daddy is the fastest boy’ by winning Olympic gold.

Peaty clocked 58.86s in the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke, a long way off his lifetime best, but he can become the second male swimmer after Michael Phelps to win three successive golds in the same event with victory tonight.

He’ll need to get past Qin, 25, who has reportedly been injured but posting a semi-final time just 0.07s shy of Peaty’s to ensure the pair will share the central lanes for the final.

“Times don’t mean anything here, times do not mean a single thing here,” said Peaty. “It is about who gets their hands on the wall to get those top three finishes, and that is sport in its most beautiful form.

“We don’t care about the times, we don’t care about all that. Of course we dissect it but it is about the racing and that is what I love, that is what is through every single vein in my body. In the final I am just looking for a little bit of joy through that.”

Ahead of the Games, Peaty shared a FaceTime call with George in which his son asked: 'daddy are you the fastest boy?'

"It feels very different to Tokyo,” said Peaty. “I was a younger man back then and had a little bit more to prove, a bit more angry back then.

"The headspace is very good. I was saying to (coach) Mel (Marshall) that it's about business, business and business again, so that's purely it.”

Peaty is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

There was Scottish involvement in the first two relay events of the Games.

Duncan Scott got his Olympic meet underway as Team GB finished an underwhelming fifth in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. There was plenty of star power in the quartet of Matt Richards, Tom Dean,  Scott and Jacob Whittle but their 3:11.61 was nearly a second short of the podium.

Gold went to the USA, with Australia taking silver and Italy bronze.

Scott became Britain's most decorated athlete at a single Games with a gold and three silvers in Tokyo and he will compete in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley in Paris, as well as playing a key part in relay events.

Jedburgh swimmer Lucy Hope dived in at her second Olympics as part of the British quartet that came seventh in the women’s 4x100m freestyle event. 

Hope, Freya Anderson, Anna Hopkin and Eva Okaro – the first Black woman to represent GB in the Olympic pool – finished in a time of 3:35.25.

Earlier, Livingston’s Keanna MacInnes swam a Scottish record in the women’s 100m butterfly to reach the semi-finals, where her campaign over that distance came to an end.

With her boyfriend Angus and parents watching on from the stands, the 22-year-old shaved two-tenths of a second off her personal best with 57.90s to advance from the fastest heat.

A place in the final was beyond her but on Olympic debut, she still has her preferred 200m to come and looks likely to be involved in the women’s and mixed medley relays.

"I couldn't believe how loud it was when I walked out,” MacInnes said. “It's such a nice pool - when I was training in it for the last couple of days, it just feels fast.”

"It was nice because the 100m isn't my main event and I've got it in the (medley) relay later in the week. I know I'll have to swim well to get into the mixed relay but there isn't much pressure on it other than that.”

Australia’s golden girl Ariarne Titmus successfully defended her title in a women’s 400m freestyle race that stopped the world.

It was a showdown dubbed the ‘Race of the Century’ with the trio having traded world record times and hogged World Championship podiums in recent years.

Hopes of a tight battle were fuelled by the morning’s heats in which Ledecky touched just ahead of Titmus, with the pair going head-to-head in the central lanes.

The Australian, who underwent surgery to remove two benign tumours in an ovary last year, is unbeaten over this distance in competitive swimming since 2019 and truthfully, that run never looked like ending.

She led throughout the race and despite McIntosh slightly closing the gap as they headed for home, the 23-year-old powering clear to claim victory in 3:57.49.

"The Olympics is not about the time, it's about getting your hand on the wall first,” said Titmus. “That's a bit off my best but it's what you can produce in an Olympic final and I gave it my best shot. The girls threw everything at me and I am really happy to defend my title."

Ledecky, who won this event at Rio 2016, reached the Olympic podium for the 11th time and this was her first-ever bronze medal. The American will be among the favourites in the 800m and 1500m freestyle later in the Games.

In the men’s 400m freestyle, Lukas Martens won Germany’s first gold medal in a men’s pool event in 36 years.

He flirted with world-record pace in the heats and again in the final, falling a second or so short of compatriot Paul Biedermann’s 15-year-old mark with a winning time of 3:41.78.

Silver went to 2022 world champion Elijah Winnington of Australia with Korea’s Woomin Kim snagging bronze with a brave swim from the outside lane.

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