Adam Ramsay-Peaty revealed a day of introspection helped him reach the final of the men’s 50 metre breaststroke at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
The three-time Olympic gold medal winner had broken down in tears after taking bronze in the 100m event on Saturday night, saying: “I’m crying because I know I am better than that.”
After making a swift return to the Commonwealth Games swimming pool on Sunday, he qualified for the finals of the men’s 50m breaststroke event in second place to South Africa’s Michael Houlie in his semi-final with a time of 26.82.
“Yeah, a lot of things off my chest,” said Ramsay-Peaty of Saturday.
“Most of all, I just took time to write it down today, and I wrote it kind of in my head and two sides of the paper.
“What have I done well, what haven’t I done well? And what can I change? And what can I not change?
“And as soon as I processed that I was like, ‘OK, this is where we have to go’.
“And for the 50 today, you couldn’t really change much in sense of the heat because it was just a late night, but tonight I brought a little bit something different, a bit more relaxed, because as soon as you tense in the 50, you’re finished.
“So again, I’m 31. I’ve done 20 years in this sport, nearly 13 of those professionally, and I’m still learning.
“I’m quite harsh on myself, I’m quite a harsh critic because I believe that’s how we have to extract true excellence and true greatness.
“And people may not see it now, but I know the path I’m on, and I think once you have a blank canvas, it’s like a war path, right?
“And you know where you’re going to go, and sometimes you lose a battle.
“And yesterday, we lost that. But actually, it doesn’t mean we lose the war. We got two years of building, two years of learning, and I’m still in that fight.”
Ramsay-Peaty is hoping to feed off the Glasgow crowd again in the final.
He said: “I’ve really enjoyed the crowd, they were very energetic tonight, so hopefully tomorrow, they can bring their A game, and I’ll bring mine. I respond to the crowd very well.
“That’s why I tried to get them a little bit more pumped.
“But I think, yeah, tomorrow’s going to be a nice race.
“If we can execute well, I think we can sneak in there. And who knows, I’ve seen these races go either way.”
Team Scotland debutant Angharad Evans was left feeling “really emotional” after winning gold in the Women’s 100m breaststroke final.
The Paris 2024 Olympian and World Championship medallist battled with South African Aimee Canny and Australia’s Sienna Toohey before touching home first in a time of 1:06.07.
Cambridge-born Evans could have qualified to represent England or Wales but chose Scotland in part because of the key role the University of Stirling has played in her training.
Evans said: “Really emotional.
“Singapore last year (when she did not negotiate the prelims in the World Championships) struck some fear in me, and I think I didn’t realise how deep-rooted that was until it got closer to the Commonwealth Games, and all these thoughts in my head started to plant seeds of doubt in my head.
“So when it got to the last five metres in that race and it got close, all I did was tell myself, ‘just give it your all, leave nothing behind and then you have no regrets’, and that’s what I did, and, Scotland was there to witness that, and that was a very, very special moment for me.”
