World Record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain has taken time off during this Olympic cycle, citing mental health reasons in addition to suffering a fractured foot back in 2022. The defending Olympic Champion in the 100 breaststroke has been on the rise again and will look to return to the top of the podium once again.
Loughborough University’s Professor David Fletcher spoke on Peaty’s performance at Great Britain’s Olympic Trials in April saying they will “bolster his confidence and belief.”
Peaty posted a 57.94 in the men’s 100 breaststroke at Trials, a time that sits at #2 in the World so far this season as he sits only behind China’s Qin Haiyang who swam a 57.69 last October. Qin notably won the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke events at the 2023 World Championships, a meet in which Peaty was not in attendance. Peaty also missed the 2022 World Championships due to a fractured foot.
“By his own admission he’s been in some pretty dark places and talked about some of the mental health challenge,” Fletcher said.
“What’s terrific is the way that he regrouped. The work that he did with Mel (Marshall, Adam’s coach) and his psychologist and his broader team to reevaluate why he was doing the sport in the first place,” Fletcher continued. “When you’re going into this uncharted territory of a third gold medal, the motivations behind that and why you keep going is something that you need to take a bit of time to reflect on.”
Peaty will be going for his 3rd gold medal in the 100 breast in a row after winning the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as the 2020 Tokyo Games. Will he stay undefeated?