Adam Peaty breaks down in tears after Olympic gold heartbreak in Paris final (2024)

Adam Peaty missed out on Team GB's first gold medal of the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday night, after coming second in the 100m men's breaststroke to collect a silver medal

Adam Peaty struggled to hold back tears after missing out on his third successive gold medal as he was pipped in the 100m men's breaststroke final by just 0.02 seconds.

Peaty's run started in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and continued at Tokyo 2020. The 29-year-old would have been just the second man after American Michael Phelps to win the same individual event at three Games in a row had he triumphed at the Paris Olympics on Sunday night.

Phelps was in the arena to see Peaty hold off challenges from his biggest rivals, but in a shock result, Nicolo Martinenghi charged in to take the win for Italy by the smallest of margins. Peaty finished in a tie for second with American Nic Fink - but it marks a remarkable comeback for the British superstar, who had taken time away from swimming after winning his second gold medal to focus on his mental health.

By his own admission, Peaty was almost “broken” by a catalogue of setbacks including depression, splitting from the mother of his son, a fractured foot and battles with alcohol. He returned to finish third in the World Championships in February, and took joint-silver in Sunday's Olympics race. It means Team GB's wait for their first gold medal in Paris goes on.

China's Qin had the better start, but Peaty began to reel the leaders in during the second-half of the race. The Brit ultimately had to settle for second with Martinenghi taking home a remarkable win, just two-hundreths of a second ahead of Peaty, who struggled to contain his emotions afterwards.

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"It's been a very long way back. I look at the score there and never in your wildest dreams did you think it was going to be 59 to win it. I give my absolute all there," he told BBC Sport.

"I executed it as well as I could. It's not about the end goal, it's about the process. It doesn't matter what time it says on the scoreboard, I think in my heart I have already won.

"I'm not crying because I came second, I'm crying because of my journey. It's just incredibly hard to win it once and then to win it again and to win it again. I'm trying to find new ways to do it. Everything that's happened to this point has happened for a reason.

"I'm so happy that I can race the fastest in the world and still come second. I'm not crying because I lost, these are happy tears because I said to myself I would give it everything I've got and I have. And I can't be upset about that."

Adrian Moorhouse, the 1988 Olympic 100m breaststroke champion, told BBC Sport: "That was an amazing swim from Martinenghi. He took the opportunity and it was a scrap but, as we said beforehand, there was a lot of emotion around this race. He was all over it. Equal second for Adam Peaty - brilliant! Right at the end, you could actually see them all trying to time their last stroke right."

Former bronze medal winner Steve Parry added: "I think Adam Peaty goes to bed tonight incredibly proud of himself. There is nothing that this guy has not done in the last ten years. In fact he's done it all more than twice; World Championships, European Championships, Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games.

"He has been the talisman of the British team. He has faced the hardest fight he has ever had over the last two years, gone to the Olympic Games again and won a silver medal with his boy watching on. The crowning event of his career."