Peaty shocks even himself with record
ADAM PEATY surprised even himself after improving his own 50 metres breaststroke world record by almost half a second in one day at the World Championships in Budapest yesterday.
Olympic champion Peaty won 100m breaststroke gold on Monday’s second day and vowed there would be “something special” over one length.
But even the 22-year-old Uttoxeter swimmer did not expect what happened – a 0.47 seconds improvement on the world record of 26.42 seconds he set in winning the 50m title in Kazan, Russia, in 2015.
Peaty clocked 26.10 in the morning heat, 0.44 ahead of his nearest rival, and improved his mark to 25.95 in the evening semifinal, 0.73 clear of the field.
“I didn’t think I was going to do that,” said Peaty, who shook his head in disbelief after seeing his time.
Peaty, though, knows what matters is the title on Wednesday, when he will likely also be part of the British 4x100m mixed medley relay team seeking to win successive golds after victory in 2015.
He added: “I enjoyed it tonight. Obviously it’s nothing without the gold that goes along with it.
“I’m going to be focusing now, staying neutral and see what we get tomorrow.”
Peaty’s advantage is a huge margin over two lengths of the pool, let alone one.
But he is focused on himself, having learned from experience since 2014 and winning Commonwealth, European, world and Olympic titles.
“This morning I wasn’t prepared to do a world record,” Peaty added. “It was just me easing through the stroke and touching the wall.
“It was the same tonight. I was on such a massive high from this morning and it was so hard to ignore that I did a world record and try to get emotionally ready.
“I thought I was going to go slower [in the semi-final] because I was a little bit less energetic.”
Peaty has the five fastest times in history over 50m breaststroke, a non-Olympic event, and admitted a sub-26 seconds swim had not been on his radar, with his focus on ‘Project 56’, swimming beneath 57 seconds over 100m, since Rio.
He said: “This morning everyone was like ‘Project 25’ and I was like ‘go on then’.
“I just dived in tonight and was like ‘I feel good’. I wasn’t that far behind after the start, which was a bonus for me.”
Glasgow-born Duncan Scott and James Guy earlier missed out on adding to Britain’s medal collection, which included Ben Proud’s 50m butterfly gold on Monday.