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Budapest - Britain's Adam Peaty narrowly missed breaking his own world record again as he won the men's 50m breaststroke gold at the world championships on Wednesday to complete another sprint double.
Peaty, already a winner over 100m, clocked 25.99 seconds, just 0.04sec short of his record-setting time in Tuesday's semi-finals, with Brazil's Joao Gomes Junior taking silver, 0.53sec behind.
Britain increased their swimming gold medal tally in Budapest to three with Peaty retaining the two titles he won in Kazan in 2015 to add to Ben Proud's victory in the men's 50m butterfly on Monday.
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh, the 2009 and 2013 world champion in the 50m breaststroke, earned bronze at 0.61sec and promptly paid tribute to Peaty's powerful performances.
"I think I have to retire and give it a few years and come back when he's older," joked the 29-year-old Van der Burgh.
"It's really impressive. It's not even breaststroke anymore, he's swimming like a new kind of stroke, like a metamorphosis between (butter)fly and breast.
"You have to have a lot of power, obviously, to swim it and it's suited to his kind of stroke, but it's difficult because not everyone can do it.
"Probably you would have to start imitating that kind of fly movement to beat him."
The 22-year-old Peaty has been in stunning form in Budapest.
He narrowly failed to beat his own 100m world record of 57.13sec from last year's Olympic final in Rio, but still won gold on Monday with a championship record of 57.47sec.
Over the shorter distance, Peaty roared out of the blocks in Tuesday morning's heats to clock 26.10sec and smash his own world record. He then became the first swimmer to go under the 26-second mark when he clocked 25.95sec in the semi-finals.
In the 50m final, he proved again that he is peerless in the sprint distance and his victory was never in doubt.
Results from the swimming finals at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest on Wednesday:
Men's 200m butterfly
1. Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:53.33
2. Laszlo Cseh (HUN) 1:53.72
3. Daiya Seto (JPN) 1:54.21
Men's 50m breaststroke
1. Adam Peaty (GBR) 25.99
2. Joao Gomes Junior (BRA) 26.52
3. Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) 26.60
Men's 800m freestyle
1. Gabriele Detti (ITA) 7:40.77
2. Wojciech Wojdak (POL) 7:41.73
3. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) 7:42.44
Women's 200m freestyle
1. Federica Pellegrini (ITA)
Mixed 4x100 medley relay
1. United States 3:38.56 - WR
2. Australia
