Olympic champion Peaty breaks own breaststroke 50m world record

Adam Peaty surprised even himself by 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 yesterday. But even the 22-year-old Uttoexter 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, pictured, clocked 26.10 in the morning heat, 0.44 ahead of his nearest rival, and improved his mark to 25.95 in the evening semi-final, 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 tonight, 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 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.”

Peaty surfaces sooner than his rivals, but so he is so powerful that he surges through the water. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, Peaty’s predecessor as world champion in 2013, clocked 26.54 in the morning heat, but finished his semi-final in 26.74 as Brazil’s Felipe Lima beat him in 26.68.

Peaty is likely to be kept in reserve in the morning heats of the mixed medley relay, with Ross Murdoch deputising, and, assuming they qualify, Britain will be confident.