Clegg, who has a visual impairment, came to Paris hoping to deal with “unfinished business” by winning Paralympic gold, having taken a silver and two bronzes in Tokyo in 2021.

He did so in style, finishing 1.65 seconds ahead of Raman Salei of Azerbaijan, who won the event in Tokyo, with Ukraine’s Yaroslav Denysenko getting the bronze.

“I got the monkey off the back,” he said.

“As soon as I touched that wall in Tokyo, I wanted it more than ever. Going into Tokyo I had the plan of retiring if I’d won and that didn’t happen.

“Three years have been spent revising my approach to the sport and rediscovering my love for the sport. It’s got me to here and now I can look back and be grateful almost for that second place in Tokyo.

“If I didn’t finish second I might not be here today and breaking world records is an incredible thing.”

Clegg is the third member of his family to have represented GB at a Paralympics, with elder sister Libby winning two golds and three silvers as an athlete across four Games and brother James claiming bronze in the pool in 2012.

Immediately after the final he was interviewed by Libby, who is working in Paris for Channel 4.

“I was very lucky to get to chat to her as soon as I got out of the pool,” he said. “I was very emotional, I didn’t know what to say and I was kind of speechless and it was a bit awkward because it was on live TV. I felt like a bit of a bumbling idiot. I can’t wait to be able to see her and give her a hug.”

Clegg has two more events to come in Paris – the S12 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly, with the latter event his main focus.