Adam Peaty Wins 50m and 100m Breaststroke at 2018 Mare Nostrum Series

Photo: British Swimming

Adam Peaty's domination of the men's breaststroke continued at the 2018 Mare Nostrum Series this weekend as the British swimmer won both the 50m and 100m races.

Peaty fended off challenges from Yashuhiro Koseki in second and Arno Kamminga in third to record a winning time of 59.31 in the 100m breaststroke A final on Saturday.

Japanese swimmer Koseki also provided the main challenge in the 50m on Sunday, but Peaty again dominated to win in a time of 26.73. Koseki was second in 27.19, while the USA's Michael Andrew was third. Ireland's Darragh Greene was sixth in 27.82.

The closest action was saved until the final race of the Cante-en-Roussillon meet, which saw Hannah Miley win a thrilling battle in the women's 400m IM. Miley dug deep to edge out reigning world champion and world record holder Katinka Hosszu by just 0.03, touching the wall first in 04:39.43.

Miley's fellow Brit Aimee Willmott narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the same race – she finished fourth in 04:39.94, just 0.02 off Turkey's Viktoria Zeynep Gunes.

Willmott got the better of Miley in Saturday's 200m IM, finishing fifth to Miley's sixth. Miley also had a seventh in the 200m breaststroke, in 2:28.63.

Canada's Taylor Ruck produced another dominant display in the women's 200m backstroke, winning in 2:08.80 from Russia's Daria-K Ustinova (2:09.95) in second and Britain's Chloe Golding (2:11.41) in third.

This final also featured Missy Franklin – the five-time Olympic champion has undergone surgery on both shoulders, and this was her first competitive action since Rio 2016.

Franklin finished sixth in 2:13.14, and also swam an impressive 1:58.91 to win the 200m freestyle B final – this time would have been good enough for fifth in the A final, which was won by Ruck. The Canadian was unable to land another double on Sunday, being edged out by Denmark's Mie Nielsen in the 100m back and Rikako Ikee in the 100m free.

Other British finalists included Lucy Hope, who finished fourth in the 50m backstroke (28.57) and sixth in the 100m freestyle (55.87). Katherine Stark claimed a pair of eighths in the 50m freestyle (25.72) and 100m freestyle (56.14), while Kara Hanlon was seventh in the 100m breaststroke (1:08.92) and Tain Bruce was seventh in the 100m butterfly (1:00.70).

Duncan Scott finished sixth in the 100m freestyle (49.62), Luke Greenbank was seventh in the 200m backstroke (2:02.41) and Joe Litchfield was seventh in the 400m IM (4:28.03). Craig Benson was eighth in the 100m breaststroke race (1:01.70), while Ross Murdoch came eighth in the 200m breaststroke (2:13.52).