Adam Peaty began his pursuit of a third consecutive 100m breaststroke Olympic gold medal by powering through to the semi-finals in Paris.
The 29-year-old nodded his head and wagged a finger towards the crowd after winning his race in 59.18 seconds to qualify with the second-fastest time of the heats, 0.14secs behind Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands.
The Briton, who broke the world record in the event in 2019 with a 56.88 swim, has taken time out in recent years to deal with periods of depression and alcohol problems, and his return to the biggest stage of all has been long anticipated.
Peaty became the first British swimmer to defend his Olympic title when he took gold in the 100m race at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 and could go one better in Paris by making it three in a row.
His big competition, China’s Qin Haiyang, swept all three breaststroke events at the 2023 World Championships but recorded a time of 59.58 in his heat in the French capital – 0.40secs off Peaty’s pace.
Fellow Briton James Wilby will also feature in Saturday’s semis after clocking a season’s best 59.40 to qualify in sixth. The final takes place on Sunday.
Meanwhile, GB’s Keanna Macinnes qualified for the semi-final of the women’s 100m butterfly, which will also take place later on Saturday.
Her time of 57.90 was enough to see her through in 16th place.
Both Team GB’s men and women are also through to the 4x100m freestyle relay final, which takes place later on Saturday, while Kieran Bird missed out on a semi-final place in the men’s 400m freestyle, finishing 16th in the heats with the top eight qualifying.