Peaty in the dark
English swim sensation admits form going into Commonwealth Games is unknown due to injury
ADAM PEATY has declared himself fit to race at next week’s Commonwealth Games — but admits that he is going into Birmingham ‘blindfolded’.
The triple Olympic champion broke his foot performing a lunge during a training camp in Tenerife in May, ruling him out of last month’s World Championships and casting doubt on his participation at Birmingham 2022.
Peaty, who was forced to wear a protective boot and spent six weeks out of the water, has only been back swimming breaststroke for three weeks and diving for a few days. But the threetime Commonwealth champion has now confirmed he will go for gold in four events at the home Games, even though he is in the dark as to how well he will perform.
‘I’m going in there blindfolded,’ said Peaty after collecting his Team England kit yesterday. ‘I have not got a clue where I’m going to be. I’ve probably got better odds guessing what number is going to land on a roulette table.
‘I haven’t raced since April at the British trials and I only raced once before that. Normally, I’ve raced 15 times by now, if not more. But I feel good, I feel fresh and ready to go. I’ve got no expectations.
‘I’m just going go see where I am at. I couldn’t have worked harder or put more into my preparation. Now it’s about the home crowd in Birmingham — let’s have it!’
Peaty is particularly motivated by the chance to swim in front of his one-year-old son George, who will be part of a packed Sandwell Aquatics Centre, only an hour away from where he grew up in Uttoxeter.
‘That’s going to give me an extra 10 per cent when I see my boy in the crowd,’ said the 27-year- old. ‘There’s no feeling like that. He came to trials in April in Sheffield but this will be the first time he’s been at a major championships.
‘Birmingham is as close to home as it’s going to get for me. I can’t wait. Crowds are what make me do what I do. Take that away, it’s weird. I don’t like it.’
Peaty will race in the 50metres and 100m breaststroke in Birmingham, as well as the 4x100m men’s and mixed medley relays.
‘The 50m Commonwealth title is the only one I haven’t won, so I better not get disqualified,’ he laughed. ‘But part of the reason for my success over the years is that I treat every race as one I haven’t won. With that mindset, I’m very focused on what I need to do.’
Peaty’s recent foot injury was the first significant one of his career but he says losing his world breaststroke titles while sat at home was all the incentive he needed to get fit.
‘That gave me a new lease of life and the hunger that I thought was missing,’ he added. ‘It hurts but at the same time that stays in there and I use it when I need to.’