Adam Peaty was taken aback by his own performance as he flew straight to the top of the 50m breaststroke world rankings with a time of 26.83 at the McCullagh International in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
Peaty, who became the first man to win the 50-100m breaststroke double for the third time at the 2019 World Championships, took over from Joao Gomes of Brazil who had been in pole position with 27.08 from the FINA Series in Beijing, China, in January.
The 25-year-old will race one more time at the Bangor Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Complex with the finals being contested in the mornings in line with the schedule at Tokyo.
Adam Peaty: Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
The Briton, who had withdrawn from the 200 final in the morning as was always planned, did not expect to have been so speedy as he led the way into the final ahead of Irish record holder Darragh Greene (27.41) and Ross Murdoch (27.65).
Peaty was pleasantly surprised and told Swimming World:
“I think it’s the whole point of this meet, isn’t it? We’re just trying new things.
“See what happens to your body at night, in the morning and obviously in Tokyo instead of having a whole morning off, I’ll be having a whole afternoon off so how do you deal with that in the sense that the semi-final will be in the morning and then you’ve got the whole day and then the morning after.”
The final night of heats also included notable performances by Luke Greenbank, Duncan Scott, Dan Jervis, Alys Thomas and Aimee Willmott.
Adam Peaty – Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Peaty has recently returned from a five-week training block in Australia with coach Mel Marshall and their training group from the National Centre Loughborough.
While there he stripped down and then reconstructed his dive to the point where he now rises at 16m rather than 14m and he has also benefited from harnessing and transferring short-course skills at the International Swimming League (ISL).
He said:
“The speed’s there, the stroke is there, I think Mel is very confident where my technique’s at. I feel good in the water, done a higher load and just come off training camp.
“I think now it’s all about building into next week and the next three weeks before I have a little bit of a rest before April (British Olympic trials)
“That’s why I didn’t do the 200 this morning because what’s the point in trying to get a 2:12 or a 2:13 – whatever it would have been – when I can try and get as much speed and as much dive as I can because I’m fully aware that there’s not many opportunities now to adapt things in the race arena.
“And I think the rest of the world is going to be like that and I can’t come here and be doing 59s or minutes: I need to be going 58s, I need to be really pushing myself to see where I can get to.
“Just because off short-course I want to build that speed and build all that power long-course.
“I could probably have gone faster on the 100 in the morning but again it’s getting used to that. I think doing this meet has fully engaged me in where my body’s at.
“It’s almost like a place marker now.”
Greenbank Goes 1:58 In 200 Back
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
Peaty’s training mate Greenbank also fired a warning shot with a time of 1:58.43, 0.03secs inside his time from the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) Nationals in Sheffield, England, last weekend.
It was good enough for fourth in the rankings headed by Ryosuke Irie‘s eye-watering 1:55.35 from the Kitajima Cup in January.
That is followed by Yohann Ndoye Brouard and his season’s best of 1:58.04 with 0.39secs separating the Frenchman, Apostolos Christou (1:58.08) and Greenbank.
The 22-year-old, who won bronze at the 2019 worlds, was also on the camp in Australia and believes there have been many benefits to training in the sun as a close-knit group under Marshall’s guidance.
He told Swimming World:
“It was a really good camp. You’ve got that element of travel you’ve got to get over which is going to be an element going into Tokyo.
“It’s learning how to adapt to that and how to cope with that.
“But alongside that I managed to get some really good training in and I train better when I’ve got a bit of sunshine and the weather’s better – it just lifts everyone’s mood and everyone bounces off each other.
“It was an amazing camp and I think it has set me up really well to come back here and race like this and backing up my work and build on that and improve on my training.”
Jervis Spearheads 400 Free Hours After 1500 Gold
Daniel Jervis; Photo Courtesy: FINIS
Jervis returned from victory in the 1500m free on Saturday morning to lead the way into the 400 free final in 3:51.37 ahead of Stephen Milne (3:55.39) and Max Litchfield (3:56.93).
That came hours after he had won the 15oo by more than 76 seconds in 15:09.35 and he told Swimming World:
“I am really pleased with that. I had the 1500 this morning and let me tell you – I felt every single foot of that race.
“I was really happy with that 400: I felt really strong. I knew today was going to be a mental game rather than a physical one so to come back and do a 3:51 – yeah, it’s an evening swim but it’s still on the same day as a 1500 – yeah, I’m happy with that.”
Willmott heads the way in the women’s 200IM in 2:12.77 ahead of Abbie Wood (2:13.53) and Rio silver medallist Siobhan O’Connor (2:13.74) – an intriguing final awaits on Sunday morning.
Scott spearheads the men’s event in 2:00.30 as well as the 100 fly in 53.09 with Thomas going 58.84 in the women’s.
Kathleen Dawson was fastest into the women’s 200 back in 2:12.73 as she looks to add to her 100m title, Amelia Kane topped the 400 free heats in 4:26.77 and Sarah Vasey led the 50 breaststroke heats in 31.73.
Calum Bain heads the men’s 50 free in 22.81 with Danielle Hill leading the women in 25.42.
Bailey Fullmer Ainsley Fullmer
Congratulations great job
So glad to have him back!!
That’s Fast!