Peaty confident of making return at Commonwealth Games
THREE-TIME Olympic champion Adam Peaty says he is “90 per cent sure” of defending his 100m breaststroke title at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next month.
The 27-year-old Loughboroughbased swimming hero is recovering from a broken foot that kept him out of the World Championships in Budapest.
Uttoxeter-born Peaty said the prospect of racing in front of a home crowd at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre is spurring him on in his recovery.
“I am 90 per cent sure now,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live when asked
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about his chances of competing at the Commonwealth Games.
“I am quite confident, with my training and team around me, that we will be there and able to put up a good fight.”
Peaty added: “I grew up 45-50 minutes away from Birmingham.
“I am a Midlands man – I was born and will probably die here.
“To race in that arena, it doesn’t get much closer to home than that.
“It gives me goose bumps thinking about it.”
Peaty has achieved the 50m and 100m breaststroke double at each of the last three World Championships.
But he had to watch from his base in Lanzarote as American Nic Finke and Italian Nicolo Martinenghi claimed those titles at this year’s World Championships.
However, Peaty says the enforced lay-off have reaffirmed his priorities and fuelled his appetite for competition.
“This broken foot is one of the best things that has happened to me,” he said.
“It has slowed me down, reminded me what is important, which is family and the support around you.
“But it has given me that drive, I don’t want anyone else to have those titles.
“I believe in the bottom of my heart that world records can be broken again and I am not finished yet.”