New worldrecord was due – Peaty

BUDAPEST: Britain’s Adam Peaty said it was about time that he broke his own men’s 50m breaststroke world-record on Tuesday in the heats of the world aquatic championships.

The 22-year-old clocked 26.10 seconds, lowering his own mark of 26.42 set two years ago in the semifinals of the world champs in Kazan, Russia, on his way to winning the final.

Fresh from winning the men’s 100m breaststroke gold on Monday night, Peaty blasted out his worldrecord time to qualify for Tuesday night’s semi-finals.

“I wasn’t going for a world record, I was just trying to qualify for the semis,” said Peaty, who says he can go even faster.

“If I can pick up a few hundredths or tenths this evening, I’d be happy.

“It’s still only 10 in the morning, which is very early for a world record, but we’ll see.

“That world record was two years old, so it was kind of due another push on.”

It is the second world-record to fall at the world championships in Budapest.

Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden became the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in under 52 seconds on Sunday.

It is the third time Peaty has held the 50m world record in his career.

His main rival in Wednesday’s final looks to be Cameron van der Burgh, who was only 0.44secs behind Peaty in the heats.

The South African was the joint record holder with Peaty before the Brit lowered his own time in Kazan.