English world champion Ben Proud will not defend his men's 50m butterfly title at the Commonwealth Games after his appeal against his disqualification was thrown out.
Proud dominated South African rival Chad le Clos in their heat and clocked what would have been a Games-record 22:84 seconds, but the Englishman was adjudged to have moved early on the blocks.
Le Clos, who won gold in the 200m butterfly at the London 2012 Olympics, said on Thursday he would "rather come second" to Proud than lose him from the Commonwealth Games final.
"I didn't see him flinch at all," added le Clos, who is contesting seven events in Australia as he bids to become the most successful athlete in Commonwealth Games history.
"No one likes to see that. As you can see he's clearly the best 50m fly swimmer in the world. Hopefully they can overturn that, but it is what it is. Whether he's there or not, I'm going to swim to win."
The England team lodged an appeal but Proud, whose illegal swim was just 0.4 seconds short of a world record, was ultimately not reinstated for Thursday's semi-finals.
"Whilst this is incredibly disappointing for Ben... we are all looking to move on," England swim team leader Grant Robins said in a statement.
"Ben will now move his focus on to the 50m freestyle on Monday and on the 17 English swimmers who are in the semis and finals tonight."
