Peaty on track for ‘Project 56’

GREAT Britain’s Adam Peaty competes to win gold in the Men’s 100-meter breaststroke swimming finals at the Tollcross swimming center during the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow. AFP

WATCH OUT!

I don’t just want to win — I want to dominate.

GLASGOW, United Kingdom — Adam Peaty said he wanted to “dominate” his rivals after smashing his own world record in the 100-meter breaststroke at the European Championships in Glasgow on Saturday.

The British swimmer stopped the clock at 57 seconds dead as he obliterated both his rivals and his own previous best mark of 57.13 seconds, which he set on the way to winning Olympic gold at Rio 2016.

It marked a remarkable return to form for the 23-year old, who had cut a dejected figure at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games earlier this year, where he won in an uncharacteristically slow time of 58.84sec as well as being beaten over his less-favored shorter distance of 50 meters.”

“I don’t just want to win — I want to dominate,” said a delighted Peaty. “That’s not an arrogant side, it’s just the competitive side in me.”

“I wasn’t going out there to break the world record but when I got to 50 meters I thought, this is so easy. Then I came back and all the passion and emotion of the letdown of the Commonwealths really fueled that.”

“After the heats yesterday I knew I was in good shape. After the semis I was back in the 58-second (mark) but it just shows what you can do if you have a positive mental attitude.”

Peaty’s superiority was such that his British teammate James Wilby, who took silver, finished more than one-and-a-half seconds behind him with 58.54.

Peaty, still the only man to have cracked the 58-second barrier, now stands on the brink of achieving his long-held and personal “Project 56” campaign.

“It gives me another level of motivation,” said Peaty of narrowly failing to beat 57 seconds two years ahead of schedule.

“If I’d done it, everybody would have started to talk about ‘Project 55.’

“It’s a great place to be in, to break the world record by a marginal gain and two years out (from Tokyo 2020). It leaves me and Great Britain in a very good place.”

Brimming with new-found enthusiasm, Peaty had indicated he was back close to his best when he timed 57.89 in his opening heat on Friday.


Read more Daily Tribune stories at: https://tribune.net.ph/

Follow us on social media
Facebook: @tribunephl
Youtube: TribuneNow
Twitter: @tribunephl
Instagram: @tribunephl
Threads: @tribunephl
TikTok: @dailytribuneofficial



Like us on Facebook