The idea of someone capturing a 56-point 100 LCM breaststroke is virtually a mind-combusting thought but, then again, we live in the time of British breaststroking legend Adam Peaty.
“It’s not a question of if I’ll do it, but when I’ll do it,” says the 23-year-old Loughborough-based athlete who continues to crush barriers and approach an almost 4-year streak of being undefeated in his signature 100m breaststroke event.
Calling the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow his entry into the door of his senior career, Peaty has been unstoppable since, culminating in a history-making time of 57.13 to crush the men’s field in Rio and clinch his first Olympic gold medal. He has since continued his tear, ripping another sub-58 in 57.79 at the British Championships in 2017, followed by World Championships gold in 57.47 while competing in Budapest.
Even under heavy training, as was the case at the Edinburgh International meet, which doubled as this year’s British Champiosnips, Peaty can produce big-time results. He won the 100m breast event in a swift 58.78 unrested, a mark that currently stands as number one in the world.
Now the breaststroking beast turns to the Commonwealth Games that kick-off next month in Australia. He and coach Mel Marshall are preparing mentally and physically for potentially even more history to be made.
“I’ll drop from about 94kg in the winter to about 88kg when I’m racing, which is a huge drop but is something we do very carefully over 10 weeks; if I just stopped eating I’d lose all my muscle. Training with all that bulk during the winter means that when I come to stripping it’s like going from a dumper truck to an F1 car.
“It’s all about fine tuning – like a race car you look at the engine and the computer and you fine tune it to get those extra performance benefits, and that’s what we try to do,” Peaty says of his pre-race planning.
For Marshall, she says the pair adhere to the mentality that, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten,” referring to new ways to approach both training and recovery strategies in order to continue evolving.
Goals-wise for the Gold Coast, Peaty says, “Winning the triple would be awesome. The 50m and the 100m breaststroke are my events and I’ll focus on those first and then we’ll see what happens in the relay.”
Grounded in reality, Peaty also states, “That isn’t enough when you’re the world record holder though, as people are always watching the clock to see if you can go even quicker.
“56 is definitely doable and it’s not a question of if I’ll do it but when I’ll do it. I’ve got to go out in 26.4, which 0.2 under what I’d usually go out in, and then I’d have to come back in the same as Rio. If I can get my body weight right, and I’m currently on track if not ahead, and I can get it right in the pool, then who knows.”
Video and quotes courtesy of Loughborough University.
What’s going to happen first, some one other than Peaty goes 57 or Peaty goes 56?
Yikes . I would not want to be cutting 6 kg of winter body weight in current English weather conditions . You are going to win at 94 kgs so mate , have that pork pie & a pint . Live a life – it’s only breastroke .
If he can improve his starts and turns to the point where they’re even average compared to the other international stars, he won’t only go under, he’ll go well under.
And that’s not really a criticism on his starts and turns when his swimming is more than fast enough to make up for it.
He has a really good reaction time off the block, it’s just his pullouts that are weak, which is strange considering how much power he has. He could be around 56 mid if he had solid pullouts and turns.
I don’t yet know enough about swimming terms to know which part of his start is lacking. I just know that when he pops out of the water after the start, he’s definitely not in first.
Its the underwater phase of his start that’s so weak, he has around a 0.6 reaction time which is fast off the blocks but he loses a lot of speed on his pullouts. He also is one of the few elite breastrokers that actually follow the single dolphin kick rule, which could explain why he comes up behind everyone else.
I often wonder if his RT is part of the problem at the start. He react very quickly, but he isn’t really jumping ‘out’, he is jumping down, because his weight looks quite forward on the blocks. So while his RT is scorching, often under 0.60, what momentum is he losing as he hits the water? Of course, that doesn’t explain why his turns are relatively poor.
No idea if it would happen, but with Dressel turning pro it’d be cool to see him and Peaty training together for a month or so.
Learning some Dressel turn magic and Peaty stroke skills respectively could help us see a 1.53 2IM and 56 mid 100 breast
I think Peaty will do that even without Dressel turn and Start.. If he had Dressel start and turn only he would be going 55..
Ehh, Caeleb already got an elite breaststroke. Probably the best of any IMer in the world now. He’s probably capable of something like 49 mid/low at full preparation in the 100 yard breast. 48 fly, 46 mid 100 free are bigger targets for him now than improving breaststroke. As for his, 200 LC IM, if he’s ever to go something like a 1:52-1:53, the improvement will most heavily come from backstroke. And he’s got some good domestic contacts to help him there. An OTC with Murphy would be great
As for Peaty, it’s not like he’s intentionally not trying on his start/pullout/turn. He’s just not physically built for getting those skills to Dressels level, nor does he seem to… Read more »
How are we talking about a 1:52 200 IM all of a sudden??
That’s what his 200im converts to. It’s just as crazy as a 55 100 breast
Okay, like Dressel is good and all, but is it just me or is everyone jumping the gun a bit on these predictions??
200 IM LC is a completely different race. And while I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go a 1:54 or even break the WR eventually, I think it definitely premature to be thinking 1:52 or even 1:55 until we see him swim it LC. His walls, particularly in breast and back, are really what helped him drop that 1:38. He doesn’t get that in meters.
With that being said I think him dropping a 46 mid free is definitely within his range. I’m not too sure about a 48 fly, but at the same… Read more »
100% echo this; Like, are we forgetting how good Phelps and Lochte were???? I struggle to see a LC 1.52 if they were going 1.54s. If anybody can do it, it will be Dressel, but I just can’t think 1.52 yet aha.
I think 1:52 would be Dressel’s potential. This year probably 1:54
Y’all forgetting Phelps went a 1:32 broken 200yd IM in 2015(he said so in a swim swam interview)! And he went 1:54.7 that year. Dressel is hella good but in terms of IM he miles behind Phelps not to mention lochtes 1:54.0
See, I like that attitude. Not even Phelps showed that in public before. Not if, but WHEN.
Very insightful! Two takeaways:
1. “an almost 4-year streak of being undefeated in his signature 100m breaststroke event.”
I love this stat. When I came up, Aaron Peirsol was the man because he didn’t lose a backstroke race for I think at least a half decade.
2. “I’ll drop from about 94kg in the winter to about 88kg when I’m racing, which is a huge drop but is something we do very carefully over 10 weeks; if I just stopped eating I’d lose all my muscle. Training with all that bulk during the winter means that when I come to stripping it’s like going from a dumper truck to an F1 car.”
Most people shave, some people train… Read more »
Phelps didn’t lose 200 fly from 2001 to 2011
Yeah, that shows how elite that club is.
He did lose it in 2002 when he flopped it at Pan Pacs
shhhhhh
lol
He actually lost to Malchow at Pan Pacs in ’02, but 03-11 is still nuts
I’m no stats guru but from memory Grant Hackett went undefeated in the 1500 from about 1997 to 2007. Could that be the longest winning streak?
1997-2005 for hackett. He was injured in 2006
He straight up bulks and cuts like a bodybuilder lmao.
Peaty is the asymptote.
Seriously though, there is a theoretical limit to how fast a human can complete a race given the rules of the stroke. Peaty is so specialized in his training for the 100 breast, he has so much science and tech behind him to make him the best that he can be, he has such an impressive mindset, and he is so far ahead of everyone else in this race, that I think he may get very close to that theoretical limit.
Phelp’s goal was to do something no one had ever done in the sport. And he did it, and it was amazing. He is the most dominant and well-rounded swimmer in history, and I don’t know if we’ll ever… Read more »
You guys, his pullouts are so bad. He’s not near peak.
Dunno if it’s gonna be him or someone else that gets there, but feel like a lot rides on that.
Peaty has said before; He has numerous goals, but at the end his career he wants a time that will stand for a very, very long time. I believe that’s his motivation, to take the 100 breastroke to places we may not see again for a very long time.
If he got his pullouts to be just even with the rest of the field then his record might last for 10 years. If he got a pullouts like Caeleb Dressel…his time would be a 56 low/55 high and would be dam near peak human performance.
“Records are made to be broken”