Ben Proud sought revenge after a devastating disqualification on Day 1 by retaining his title in the 50m freestyle final. 

Proud, a large favourite to win the event prior to the start of the race, eased to victory as he led from the outset and throughout, finishing just under 0.5 seconds clear of South African Bradley Tandy in second. 

Fellow Englishmen David Cumberlidge fell just shy of a podium as he finished fourth after an admirable performance, with Australian Cameron McEvoy posting a time just 0.08 seconds quicker to claim bronze. 

Thomas Fannon also participated in the race, but he wasn’t able to replicate his countrymen’s successes, as he finished eighth. 

Proud was controversially disqualified from the men’s 50m butterfly event after he twitched on his dive, which was marginally given as a false start. He currently holds the Games record for the event, which he set in Glasgow in 2014, where he clinched gold in the 50m freestyle, too. 

Proud’s triumph doubled his medal tally in the Gold Coast, following on from Team England’s silver medal-worthy swim in the 4x200m relay on Friday. 

Speaking after his victory, Proud said:

 “I'm really pleased, to be able to go three sub-21.5s pretty comfortably, pretty relaxed, I’m not sure how much further I can push that right now - I don't know, but I feel very good. Going to Glasgow this summer, it’s another opportunity to push my times. I'm really confident.

 "I think it's down to the right preparation, coming into this I knew I’d have the 50m butterfly first so we’d give the taper to that, in the past I’d gear it towards the freestyle and I’d been hanging on for four days just clinging on to that taper but I’m still fresh and I feel good, it just takes the edge away. So I’m really pleased to be consistently going 21.3s, 21.4s. I'm very happy.

 "Brad (Tandy’s) got one of the best starts I’ve ever seen, obviously racing against (Cameron) McEvoy who’s fast as hell at 50m freestyle. It’s very interesting, and very good practice coming into the pool rooms, handled ourselves right and performing well. If this was in a World Championships scenario, to be able to go around the same time, that’s usually what it takes to get a medal. I’ve got a couple more years to really try prove it, manage my skills a bit better so I can move from rung to rung. This definitely was a practice round for me, and it was very good at that. 

 "When I lost the opportunity to retain my 50m fly title, I really was clinging on to what I had left. To be able to retain this title gives me the energy to be able to come back in four year’s time in Birmingham in front of the home crowd, and hopefully I’m still in good shape and I can try and get it for the third time. But that’s a long time in the future, at least right now I’ve done what I can, I’ve put myself in with a good opportunity and hopefully I can keep moving forward”.