Adam Peaty became the latest English big name to flop at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when he was beaten by South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh in the 50 metres breaststoke.

Max Whitlock and the Brownlee brothers are among the stars who have so far failed to live up to the hype and been beaten in their gymnastics and triathlon disciplines respectively.

And despite winning his favoured 100m breaststroke title on Saturday, Peaty failed to repeat the feat and had to settle for silver, 0.04secs behind van der Burgh’s winning time of 26.58 seconds.

Adam Peaty
Adam Peaty had to settle for a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke (Mike Egerton/PA)

Describing the race as “one of the worst feeling races I’ve ever done”, Peaty added: “It gives me a reality check. Even if you’re the best in the world, world record holder, you can still be beaten. I think that’s the most valuable lesson from today.”

Alys Thomas of Wales struck gold in the women’s 200m butterfly in a Games record time of two minutes 05.45 seconds.

The 27-year-old Thomas, a relatively late comer to the level of sport, was the fastest qualifier and liveed up to her billing to beat Australian pair Laura Taylor and Emma McKeon.

England’s James Guy, like room-mate Peaty, finished with silver behind a South African as Chad le Clos claimed a clean sweep of the butterfly events, taking gold in a Games record of 50.65.

Nile Wilson completed his five-medal haul from the men’s gymnastics competition by taking gold and silver in the high bar and parallel bars respectively.

The Leeds 22-year-old, who had already won team and all-around gold medals as well as silver on the rings, was edged out in the parallel bars by Marios Georgiou of Cyprus, while Frank Baines of Scotland won bronze.

Nile Wilson
Nile Wilson added a third gold medal in the men’s high bar (Danny Lawson/PA)

But Wilson rebounded to win his favoured high bar with a score of 14.533, which despite being well down on his qualifying mark was still good enough to nudge team-mate James Hall into another silver medal.

Wilson said: “It’s a massive stepping-stone for the future. We might not have been amongst the best gymnasts in the world, but to soak up the environment and learn how to handle the pressure is a huge thing.”

Seventeen-year-old Alice Kinsella held her nerve to win her first major title on the women’s beam, scoring 13.7 to beat home favourite Georgia-Rose Brown into the silver medal position with team-mate Kelly Simm in bronze.

Latalia Bevan of Wales won silver on the women’s floor while England’s Courtney Tulloch and Dominick Cunningham took silver and bronze respectively on the men’s vault behind Australia’s Christopher Remkes.

James Willstrop’s long wait for Commonwealth Games squash gold is over after he beat New Zealand’s Paul Coll 3-0 in the men’s singles final.

Willstrop twice had to settle for silver behind compatriot Nick Matthew in Delhi and Glasgow but the 34-year-old former world number one made light work of Coll who is ranked five places above him in the current world rankings.

2018 Commonwealth Games – Day Five
Akani Simbine won 100m gold on the Gold Coast (Martin Rickett/PA)

South Africa’s Akani Simbine claimed the men’s 100m title in 10.03 seconds ahead of team-mate Henricho Bruintjies with Jamaica’s former world champion Yohan Blake in third.

England’s Adam Gemili had earlier pulled out of the race with an adductor injury which has also ruled him out of Saturday’s 4x100m relay.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye took the women’s 100m title in a winning time of 11.28 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Christiana Williams and Gayon Evans.