DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — American swimmer Nic Fink claimed gold in the men's 100-meter breaststroke while British star Adam Peaty had to settle for bronze on his World Championships return in Doha.

Fink, a silver and bronze medalist at the past two editions, won in 58.57 seconds, with Italy's 2022 world champion Nicolo Martinenghi taking silver, 0.27 seconds.

Double Olympic champion and world record holder Peaty rounded out the podium, clocking 59.10 seconds.

The 29-year-old is appearing at the world championships for the first time since 2019. He took time out of the sport last year to concentrate on his mental health.

In Peaty's absence, China's Qin Haiyang swept the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events in Fukuoka, Japan last year, emerging as a serious threat to Peaty at the Paris Olympics.

The 24-year-old Qin did not travel to Qatar for these world championships.

Peaty described his bronze medal performance as "bittersweet."

"The swimming speed is fine, over the next five months, I know that is only going to improve and that is my thing, but the skills are just not good enough at this moment," he commented.

"So it is bittersweet because we did not come here for medals, I wasn't really to fuss about aiming for a medal here because that is just not the target, we've come off a hard bank of work and last night gave me a glimmer of hope thinking I could get faster even today."