Adam Peaty is a 3-time Olympic gold medalist, 5-time Olympic medalist and the current world record holder in the 100 meter breaststroke.
Adam Peaty
Born Dec. 28, 1994 Adam Peaty is a swimmer from Great Britain. Standing 6’3″ Peaty is a breaststroke specialist, claiming the 2016 Olympic title in the 100 breast and becoming the first man to go 57, and subsequently 56, seconds in the 100 meter breaststroke.
Early Career
Peaty made his first traveling team as a junior swimmer, at the European Junior Championships in 2012. He competed in all three breaststroke events, and even finished fifth overall in the 200m breaststroke. A year later in 2012 Peaty competed at the FINA World Cup circuit, and won his first medals at the 2013 British Gas Swimming Championships in Sheffield.
He won silver in the 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m breaststroke in Sheffield, but at the 2013 British Gas ASA National Youth Championships, Peaty swam his first sub-1:00 100m breaststroke swim.
Success in senior swimming
In 2o13 Peaty competed in his first senior international competition, this competing at the European Short Course Senior Championships. He went best times in all three breaststroke events.
At his first Commonwealth Games in 2014, Peaty represented England and won four gold medals including the 50m and 100m breaststrokes. At the 2014 European Championships in Berlin, Peaty broke the World Record in the 50m breaststroke.
In Apr. 2015 Peaty competed at the 2015 British Nationals, swimming his 100m breaststroke in under 58 seconds, breaking the World Record. In 2015 Peaty is on top of the world rankings in the 100m breaststroke.
2015 World Championships (Kazan, Russia)
Just two years after debuting at the senior level Peaty represented Great Britain at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. The 20-year-old breaststroker was the first Brit to win three gold medals in a single World Championships.
He began his meet in his two specialty events — the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke races. In both events he edged out reigning champion Cameron van der Burgh becoming the first man in World Championship history to secure both the 50 and 100 breaststroke titles. It also tied him with David Wilkie as the only two British swimmers in history to win two world titles in one competition.
He then turned his focus to the 400 mixed medley, joining Chris Walker-Hebborn, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Fran Halsall to win another gold finally surpassing Wilkie’s record.
2016 Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Making his Olympic debut in the 100 meter breaststroke heats, Peaty set the pool on fire. Thanks to a blistering first 50, he broke his own world record by 0.37 seconds, lowering it to 57.55. He moved to the semi-finals 1.36 seconds clear of his closest competitor.
His quest to be come the first British male to win an Olympic gold in 28 years continued in the semi-final. He showed his consistency and poise, posting the second fastest time of all-time in 57.62 seconds.
In the final, with the eyes of the British public watching in the early hours of the morning, Peaty destroyed the rest of the field touching for gold in 57.13 in another new world record. He went out in 26.61 under world record pace and turned up the heat again for the home stretch, putting clear water between him and the rest of the field. Former Olympic Champion, Cameron Van Der Burgh, touched second, a second and a half behind Peaty.
Peaty was back in action on the final day in the 4×100 meter medley relay. He set the fastest ever relay split for the breaststroke leg in the heats and then again in the final to help Great Britain take the silver medal. In the final, he took over from Chris Walker-Hebborn in 6th place, but his monstrous 56.59 split moved Great Britain to first. His split was two seconds faster than the second fastest breaststroke split. James Guy took over for the butterfly leg, but was up against Michael Phelps who regained the lead. Duncan Scott finished off for Team GB, securing the silver in 3:29.24.
2017 World Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Day two of World Championships, Peaty took down his own 100m breaststroke Championship Record from the semifinals, dominating the field to take gold in 57.47. That was the 2nd fastest performance in history in the event behind only his World Record 57.13 from Rio. Peaty also becomes the first man to ever do the Worlds-Olympics-Worlds triple, and the first since Brendan Hansen(2005, 2007) to repeat as World Champion. Hungary’s Norbert Rozsa also accomplished the feat in 1991 and 1994.
Day three of World Championships, Peaty shattered his own 50m breaststroke world record in the prelims. He touched the wall in 26.10, taking over three tenths off his existing world record of 26.42. He was back on record-breaking form later that day. He posted an incredible 25.95 to break the 50 meter breaststroke record again. In the final Peaty wasn’t able to break his record from the night before but he still managed to give a dazzling performance. He defended his World title in 25.99 to post the second sub-26 50 meter breaststroke in history. He was 0.53 ahead of second place.
On the final night in Budapest, Peaty won a silver medal when he joined Chris Walker-Hebborn, James Guy and Duncan Scott in the 4×100 medley relay. Peaty took Great Britain from 7th to 1st position with an incredible 56.91 split. Team USA retook the lead on the next leg but Great Britain managed to hold off Russia to touch 2nd in 3:28.95.
2018 Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast, Australia)
Peaty grabbed the gold medal in the 100 breaststroke (58.84) after setting a Commonwealth Games record (58.59) in the semifinals. He earned the silver medal in the 50 breaststroke (26.62) after setting a Commonwealth Games record (26.49) in the event semifinals.
2018 European Championships (Glasgow, United Kingdom)
After posting relatively modest times (but still garnering the top seed) in prelims and semis of the 100 breast to start off the euros, Peaty churned out a world record 57.00 100 breast in the final.
LEN later admitted a timing error, and the time was changed to 57.10, but the world record still stood as broken, which Peaty admitted he hadn’t quite expected. In the 50 breast, he broke the championships record both in prelims and semis, turning in times of 26.50 and 26.20 to go into finals as the top seed and heavy favorite. Peaty continued his streak through the finals, busting out a 26.09 to claim another Euro title and championship record.
2019 World Championships (Gwangju, South Korea)
Peaty put on a show in Gwangju, breaking a world record on Day 1 in the 100 breast, finally dipping under the elusive 57-second barrier to become the first man to go 56 in the 100 breast. Peaty stopped the clock at 56.88 in semi-finals, then successfully defended his 2015 and 2017 titles in the final, touching for gold at 57.14, over a second ahead of 2nd place.
Peaty went 2-for-2 on defending his titles as he took the 50 breast as well, just off his WR mark with a time of 26.06 to win by over half a second. Later in the same session, Peaty helped Britain’s 4×100 mixed medley relay to a bronze medal, splitting 57.73 on the breaststroke leg.
On the last day of the meet, Peaty swam on the 4×100 medley relay, where he split 57.20 in finals to help Great Britain win gold over the USA, it’s first ever in the event at a long course world championships.
2019 Swammy Awards
After becoming the first man to swim a 56 second 100 meter breast, as well as defend both his world titles in the 50 and 100 breast, Adam Peaty earned the European Swimmer of the Year Swammy Award.
2020 SwimSwam Magazine, 2020 Swimsuit Issue
Peaty, the most dominant breaststroker in the world, commands your attention when he’s standing behind the blocks. He’s ripped, physically imposing, like an ancient Olympic statue carved from stone. Comparing sheer muscle mass, no swimmer on the world’s stage really compares to Peaty, and SwimSwam has wanted him to grace the cover of the magazine for years. Thankfully, with the support of our partner Arena and TLA Worldwide, we got him for the 2020 Swimsuit Issue.
2021 European Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Peaty continued his breaststroke dominance in Budapest, taking golds in the 50 (26.21) and 100 breast (57.66), as well as helping Britain to gold in the 400 medley (57.38) and mixed 400 medley (57.13) relays, both of which broke European records.
2020 Olympic Games
Peaty did Peaty things to start off the 2020 Olympic Games. After dropping Top-10 times in the prelims (57.5) and semi-finals (57.6), Peaty stopped the clock in the final heat at 57.37, topping the field by over half a second and defending his Olympic title from 2016.
Peaty was back for the mixed medley relay, where he split 56.78 in the final on the breast leg to help Team GB to a gold medal and new world record.
The breaststroke king finished his meet in the 400 medley relay, where he dropped the fastest split in history at 56.53 to help Britain to a 2nd place finish, earning silver.
