Martinenghi stuns Peaty; Biles shines on Olympic return
PARIS — Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi stunned Adam Peaty to win a nail-biting 100-m breaststroke final on Sunday while Simone Biles dazzled a star-studded crowd on her return to the Olympic stage.
Also on day two of the Paris Games, Rafael Nadal shrugged off injury concerns to set up a second-round showdown at Roland Garros against great rival Novak Djokovic.
After US gymnastics superstar Biles wowed an A-list crowd at a packed Bercy Arena, focus turned to the swimming pool in the evening, with three golds on offer.
Leon Marchand surged to France's first Olympic swimming gold since 2012, obliterating the field to clock the second-fastest 400-m individual medley time ever.
With the crowd roaring on every stroke at La Defense Arena, the 22-year-old led off strongly and never looked back, touching in a new Olympic record time of 4 minutes 02.95 seconds, nearly six seconds clear of Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita.
Torri Huske then beat American teammate and world record-holder Gretchen Walsh to clinch the women's 100-m butterfly title, before the clash of the evening in the pool delivered an unexpected twist.
All the talk pre-race was about a blockbuster duel between Britain's reigning two-time champion Peaty and China's world title-holder Qin Haiyang in the men's 100-m breaststroke.
AdvertisementThey were neck and neck for large parts of a thrilling race, before Martinenghi roared through for victory, piping Peaty and America's Nic Fink by just 0.02 secs as they shared second.
Qin, who was reportedly among 23 Chinese swimmers who failed drugs tests in the lead-up to the Tokyo Games, only to be cleared to compete, faded to seventh.
An emotional Peaty had tears in his eyes afterwards but said they weren't in any way a sign of sadness.
«I think anyone that's done sport, I think if you're willing to put yourself on the line every single time, I think there's no such thing as a loss,» he said.
Advertisement«I'm so happy that the right man won it.»
Biles wows A-listers
Tom Cruise and Lady Gaga were among the spectators watching Biles as the American began her quest for Olympic gymnastics redemption.
The four-time Olympic champion is competing in Paris three years after her campaign
