British breaststroker Adam Peaty has broken the World Record in the men’s 100 long course meter breaststroke, swimming a 57.92 on Friday at the London Olympic Aquatics Centre during the finals of the 2015 British National Championships. That clears the old record by over half-a-second, breaking the 58.46 done by South African Cameron van der Burgh at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in the same pool.
The comparative splits:
- Van der Bugh ’12: 27.07/31.39 = 58.46
- Peaty ’15: 27.04/30.88 = 57.92
Peaty and Van der burgh are both great 50 breaststrokers and both have very good front-end speed (last summer, Peaty broke the World Record in the 50 meter distance). But it was the back-half of this race where Peaty really dropped the proverbial hammer.
The 20-year old Peaty is the first British swimmer to hold the World Record in this event since 1991, when Adrian Moorhouse’s record was broken by Hungarian Norbert Rozsa. Moorhouse held the record for two years, across three different swims, and is the only British swimmer to ever hold the record in the 100 breaststroke.
It might have been overlooked that Ross Murdoch actually came home quicker than Peaty according to the results on the British Swimming Website:
Peaty- 27.04, 30.88 (57.92)
Murdoch- 28.54, 30.59 (59.13)
Looks pretty exciting for Murdoch’s 200 later in the year.
Absolutely zero surprise Peaty broke the world record. I had predicted it a few days ago. He had already destroyed his 200 breast PB earlier in the week which was a great sign. But I didn’t expect a sub 58! WOW! Other breaststrokers of the world have now a clear target. But he will not be easy to catch. Clearly the giant favorite for next summer’s worlds and next year’s olympic games.
Talking about the medley relay in Rio, yes, it puts even still more pression on the US relay, but I still think that as long as GB doesn’t have a 48 low flat start sprinter, USA still has the advantage.
Here is a video of the full race:
http://youtu.be/cU-c-ApXEPs
As a yank who swam this event years ago, I am simply … in awe of this performance. Heck; I was in awe of van der Burgh’s record. There are no words. It’s awesome how the UK is coming on strong. Very, very impressive..
Incredible swim. Scary if he goes faster. He may put the record out of reach for a long while.
Thanks for the YouTube link. The reaction of the second place finisher, sheer joy and congrats to the new world record holder. Swimming is #1 for sportsmanship between competitors. Just great to see.
That is going to be really fun to watch in Rio. Now I have a new goal time if I ever get that fast!
This is the best I could find on youtube, its the last 5 seconds of the race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOwIKij_IZc
I just love it when the crowd went wild!