2019 British C’ships: Peaty’s 58.50 Was Kicked Off By Head-Turning 26.90 Opener

2019 BRITISH SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

We’re used to seeing eye-popping swims from Olympic gold medalist and World Record holder Adam Peaty in the men’s breaststroke events, but this morning was an especially impressive display of power by the British Lion.

Firing off the fastest 100m breast time of the morning in 58.50 at the British Swimming Championships, Peaty’s time checks-in as the 18th fastest performance in history and sets the 25-year-old up nicely to take the British national title and qualify for this summer’s World Championships.

What was especially notable about his morning performance however, was the fact the man opened in a wicked-fast 26.90. That is remarkably quick, even by Peaty’s standards, given his previous season-best of 58.73 started off with a 27.25 at the Edinburgh International Meet this past March. There, Peaty also took the men’s 50m breast gold, in a time of 26.99, slower than his opening 50 this orning.

For additional perspective, a 26.90 would have taken the bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the bronze at the 2018 European Championships and would have finished 6th at the 2017 World Championships.

After his race, Peaty stated, I’m very happy with my progress this morning – I didn’t want anything special, just enough to make it back tonight in lane 4.

“We’ve worked on it [my dive] relentlessly – in the past we’ve worked on it hard in terms of effort, but now we’re matching that up with sports scientists and I owe a massive thank you to them. They’re the brains behind the whole dive and the pull out and it’s great to have such a supportive team around me.”

Peaty is on target for an other-worldly performance, whether it be during tonight’s final or in Gwangju this summer.

From this morning’s prelims recap:

Men’s 100m Breast – Prelims

  • Selection Time #1 – 59.19, Selection Time #2 – 59.92
  • British National Record – 57.10, Adam Peaty (World Record), 2018

Open Top 8:

Place Name AaD Club Time R.T. FINA Pt 50
1. Adam Peaty 25 Loughboro NC 58.50 + 0.63 929 26.90
2. Ross Murdoch 25 UniOfStirl 59.33 + 0.60 891 27.71
3. Craig Benson 25 UniOfStirl 1:00.00 + 0.64 861 28.14
4. James Wilby 26 Loughboro NC 1:00.27 + 0.73 850 28.34
5. David Murphy 21 Co Oxford 1:01.27 + 0.71 809 28.56
6. Lawrence Palmer 27 Putteridge 1:02.10 + 0.69 777 28.68
7. Zak Aitchison 21 UniOfStirl 1:02.16 + 0.57 775 28.65
8. Gregory Butler 19 Co Derby 1:02.38 + 0.72 766 28.70

Making it look easy once again was Olympic champion, World champion and World Record holder Adam Peaty, who punched the wall in a mighty 58.50 this morning. Although he’ll need to repeat the feat tonight to make it official, Peaty’s morning time marks the first clocking under a British Selection Time #1, the strictest of the qualifying criteria.

Runner-up in the heats was Scottish national record holder and 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Ross Murdoch, who was also under 1:00 in 59.33. That ties Murdoch’s 6th fastest time of his career and sets him up nicely to put down something special this evening.  Murdoch’s time now inserts the Scot into the season world rankings as 6th fastest swimmer.

2018-2019 LCM MEN 100 BREAST

AdamGBR
PEATY
07/21
56.88 *WR
2Ilya
SHYMANOVICH
BLR58.2903/24
3James
WILBY
GBR58.4607/22
4Yan
ZIBEI
CHN58.6307/22
5Yasuhiro
KOSEKI
JPN58.8907/21
6Andrew
WILSON
USA58.9308/15
7Dmitriy
BALANDIN
KAZ59.0307/21
8Fabio
SCOZZOLI
ITA59.0505/11
9Kirill
PRIGODA
RUS59.0907/22
10Anton
CHUPKOV
RUS59.1507/21
View Top 26»

Murdoch’s Stirling partner in crime, Craig Benson, was in action as well, claiming the 3rd seed in 1:00.00, while Loughborough ace James Wilby is next in line as the 4th seed in 1:00.27. Wilby already nailed a world-class mark of 59.23 at this year’s Edinburgh International.

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Tim
4 years ago

Definitely. If he improves his start and turn by 0.1 he has a chance to go 56.

Uh-oh
4 years ago

Had to do a double take… thought he got kicked off or dq’d…

harambe
4 years ago

I read this as “Peaty was kicked In the head going 58.5”

jhumphries
4 years ago

what was his 50 split when he went 57.1?

Dee
Reply to  jhumphries
4 years ago

26.75 I think

Dee
4 years ago

His start was noticeably better – He looked to come up leading.

Tim
4 years ago

Encouraging comments about his start. Excited to see what he does this summer.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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