Peaty pips Van der Burgh as rivalry heats up pool
Adam Peaty of Britain won the men's 100m breaststroke gold at the world swimming championships in Kazan yesterday - edging out his rival, South African Cameron van der Burgh. The 20-year-old Peaty clocked 58.52 seconds, with Van der Burgh bagging silver in 58.59 seconds.Van der Burgh led at the turn yesterday, but Peaty overtook him in the closing metre, getting his hand on the wall just ahead.And as Ryk Neethling noted afterwards on Twitter, Van der Burgh's 50m split was only .02 of a second slower than his gold medal time in the 50m at the 2013 World Championships.Britain's Ross Murdoch took bronze, behind Peaty and Van der Burgh - at 0.57secs back.But this is the face-off that has many casting their eyes to Rio 2016 in anticipation - it is a rivalry between the current and the former 100m breaststroke world record holders. Peaty added this world crown to his Commonwealth Games victory in Glasgow last year, when he also beat Van der Burgh. Peaty also broke Van der Burgh's 2012 world mark earlier this year to become the first man in history under 58 seconds in the event.After the semifinals in Kazan, Peaty and Van der Burgh were the top two seeds - with both going under the former's championship record of 58.52 set in the preliminaries. ..
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