2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- Friday, July 29 – Wednesday, August 3, 2022
- Birmingham, England
- Sandwell Aquatic Center
- Start Times
- Prelims: 10:30 am local / 5:30 am ET
- Finals: 7:00 pm local / 2:00 pm ET
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Event Schedule
- Entry List (PDF)
- Live Results
For the first time in nearly a decade, prolific British breaststroker Adam Peaty found himself off the podium in the men’s 100m breaststroke at a major elite international event.
Tonight in the men’s 100m breaststroke final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Peaty wound up in 4th place with a time of 59.86.
Taking gold was English teammate James Wilby who topped the podium in 59.25 while Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook snagged silver in 59.52. Rounding out the top 3 was Aussie Sam Williamson in 59.82 which meant Olympic champion and world record holder Peaty was the odd man out here in Birmingham.
However, the fact that Peaty is even racing here is a feat unto itself, as the dominant ace has been rehabbing a broken foot since at least May of this year. The injury rendered him out of the pool for this year’s World Championships and the father of one is just now getting back into form.
Peaty owns the World Record in a monstrous time of 56.88 which he clocked nearly 3 years ago in Gwangju. More recently, at the 2020 Olympic Games, Peaty beat the field in Tokyo by another sizable margin, capturing gold in 57.37.
The fact that Peaty stopped the clock in a somewhat pedestrian (for him!) time of 59.86 is merely an indication that the man is getting back into the groove after having been out of the water for several weeks this year.
We’ll see what the British ace is able to throw down in just a few weeks’ time at this year’s European Championships
I don’t think we can put his lack of form soley down to a broken foot. Although having 1.5 months out of the pool is far from ideal, he has been back in hard training since January after the dancing show. So I struggle to think that missing a month and a half of pool time (he could still do most gym/bike training) should undo all of the training block he had been in for the first 7 months of the year? Although for sure a contributing factor, its difficult to see how a broken foot, now fully recovered can be the sole factor for being 3 seconds off your personal best in 100m distance
So, Michael Andrew took like all the time off from Worlds to the US National meet. He didn’t even have to come to this meet – he was in costa rica catching waves surfing, but he did, and taking i think they said 6 weeks off, the guy still dropped a 1:01 100 breast (remember he was 58 or 59) and 22.2 50 free…so, I absolutely believe a guy who had to basically stop all weight training for months in a sport dominated by leg propulsion could fall back 2-3 seconds.
I agree with your point, but I also feel there is more than meets the eye here, maybe a lack of motivation coming off of Tokyo, maybe a miss-direction in the training so far this year etc
I mean he’s just at 20% (at most…) of his best shape and some weeks after breaking his foot, like…it’s normal…quite sure he’ll skip Euros to better recover from the injury. And quite sure he would have skipped Commonwealth Games had them been hosted not by Great Britain…
What I find most puzzling is that although nowhere near his best, he had a time in him (semi final swim) that could still win gold on the night. But for whatever reason he couldn’t replicate it on the final night, change in tactics, pressure, emotion?
One of the greatest athletes ever. I think he’s got a sub 56.5 by the end of his career.
I feel for him. But hey, better now than in 2024. This year’s world champs was very poor compared to the usual standard anyway. Olympics is what will be remembered.
The bounce back is about to be crazy
OK, he is human after all. At least we have that confirmed.
I think he should focus on getting better from here on. Maybe this will be the fire and motivation he needed for 2024.