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Adam Peaty has an alternative blueprint in mind in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke to what won him two Olympic gold medals.
Peaty gets his campaign in Paris under way on Saturday and is bidding to become just the second male in swimming history, after the great Michael Phelps, to win the same event at three consecutive Games.
He must come through the morning heats and evening semi-final to reach Sunday’s showpiece and at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Peaty topped the time-sheets on each occasion – but that is not his priority now.
While Peaty, who has captured Team GB’s first gold medal at at the last two Olympics, will not take his foot completely off the gas, he sees the bigger picture of trying to peak at the right time.
He said: “It’s definitely going to be different tactically and there’s going to be a different strategy this time, just for energy preservation.
“We’re going to go through the rounds and hopefully get good seeds. But it’s so different to what I was seeking at Tokyo and so different to what I was trying to do in Rio.
“I know I’ve got nothing to prove here. But there’s going to be people out there with something to prove in the heats. That isn’t going to be me.
“You want your best in the final, you want your season’s best in the final and that’s all I’m seeking. I’m a little bit older now, bit wiser and open-eyed about what is around me and a lot more calmer.”
You want your best in the final, you want your season's best in the final and that's all I'm seeking— Adam Peaty
After success in Tokyo, where he also won a relay gold, Peaty’s eight-year unbeaten run ended at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he entered under-cooked after breaking his foot just 10 weeks earlier.
He admitted to going on a “self-destructive spiral” in the months that followed and burnout led to him taking a break from the pool. Twelve months ago, he was uncertain whether he would ever compete again.
Peaty was coaxed back, in part because he wanted to prove he is still the best to his young son George, but given everything he has gone through, does getting to the starting blocks feel like a gold medal?
He said: “My mentality is not just the starting line. We need some gratification as athletes to see that it’s paid off.
“The investment on this journey has been so high in all aspects – energy, time, focus and financial. I’d like to see a reward for that.
“If it’s not the result I want then I’ll be disappointed. But before in 2021 or 2022 and way before that, I’d be almost tearing myself apart that my life isn’t worth living because you lost.
“That isn’t sustainable, it’s not what a champion shows and I’ve had to come full circle (to realise that). The sun always rises the next morning no matter what.”
When Peaty was out of the picture, China’s Qin Haiyang emerged as a contender, winning four golds at last year’s World Championships, including in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Peaty, an eight-time world champion who has swam the 14 quickest times in his favoured event, is still the person to beat, having put in the fastest time of the year at Olympic trials in April.
Peaty added: “If you’ve done it a few times before, which I have, it’s not like you just turn up to championships and forget how to do that, especially at an Olympic Games.”
