Adam Peaty suffers rare defeat in the pool after being pipped to 50m gold by Cameron van der Burgh
Van der Burgh, the Glasgow 2014 champion, led throughout the men's 50m breaststroke final to touch first in 26.58 seconds as Peaty finished 0.04secs behind
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Your support makes all the difference.England's Adam Peaty suffered a rare defeat in the pool as Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa successfully defended his Commonwealth Games 50 metres breaststroke title on Monday.
After retaining the 100m title on Saturday, completing four years unbeaten over two lengths, Peaty was bidding to triumph in the one-length dash for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.
But Van der Burgh, the Glasgow 2014 champion, led throughout to touch first in 26.58 seconds as Peaty finished 0.04secs behind.
England's James Wilby won his third individual breaststroke medal, with bronze in 27.37.
Peaty admitted after the race that he has been struggling for form on the Gold Coast and described the race as "probably one of the worst feeling races I've ever done".
"Even though it's a silver, I'm more happy with that silver than I was the gold the other day," Peaty said.
"It gives me a reality check. Even if you are the best in the world, world record holder, you can still be beaten. I think that's the most valuable lesson from today.
"Some people have down days and today was a down day for me. I was probably working at 90, 95 per cent. But to win races like that, when it comes down to a very fine margin, I need to be 100 per cent.
"As an athlete, obviously I'm disappointed. I've never had a 50m Commonwealth title. I've had the rest, but not this one.
"Away from the actual racing, I'm so happy for Cam. I gave my best out there tonight and Cam gave better. That's just the way it is."
Meanwhile, England's James Guy had to settle for silver in the men's 100m butterfly as South Africa's Chad le Clos triumphed.
The victory completed a clean sweep of the butterfly titles for Le Clos, who had already won the 50m and 200m events.
Le Clos clocked a Games record of 50.65 seconds, Guy finished in 51.31secs and Grant Irvine of Australia took bronze in 51.50.
Alys Thomas of Wales struck gold in the women's 200m butterfly in a Games record time of two minutes 05.45secs.
The 27-year-old Thomas, a relatively late comer to the level of sport, was the fastest qualifier and lived up to her billing to beat Australian pair Laura Taylor and Emma McKeon.
Away from the pool, England continued their dominance in the gymnastics.
Nile Wilson won his third gold medal of the Games with victory in the men's high bar final in Corooma.
Wilson's score of 14.533 was half a point down on his qualifying mark but still enough to beat team-mate James Hall, who shared silver with Canada's Cory Paterson.
It means the Leeds 22-year-old will leave Australia with a total of five medals having won silver on the parallel bars earlier on Monday.
Elsewhere, Alice Kinsella claimed gold in the beam. The 17-year-old, who won bronze in the all-around and silver in the women's team final, finished ahead of Australia's Georgia-Rose Brown. Kinsella's team mate Kelly Simm took bronze.
In the men's squash, James Willstrop finally landed a Commonwealth Games gold after he beat New Zealand's Paul Coll 3-0 in the singles final.
Willstrop twice had to settle for silver behind compatriot Nick Matthew in Delhi and Glasgow but the 34-year-old former world No 1 made light work of Coll who is ranked five places above him in the current world rankings.
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