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
Last night Adam Peaty of Great Britain uncharacteristically came away medal-less in the men’s 100m breaststroke at a major international competition.
On night 3 of these 2022 Commonwealth Games, Peaty touched in a time of 59.86 to place 4th in the event in which he has won three long course World Championships titles, two Olympic golds and the even in which he currently owns the world record.
However, the fact that Peaty was even racing here in Birmingham was significant, 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.
Speaking to BBC about his 4th place finish in front of a home crowd, “It takes time to reflect and to heal. I’m going to take a long break, completely reset, and have a strong winter. I haven’t had a strong winter in 2 years and it’s showing.
“I’ve got to get back to basics. Something’s gone missing…haven’t felt the spark in it for the last 2 years…you can get burnout from the sport that you do love…so it’s like how do we find out spark again.”
Speaking of the 50m breast sprint, after a rough night where the 27-year-old said he got only about 2 hours sleep, Peaty made it into tomorrow evening’s 50m breaststroke final with a 2nd seeded semi-final swim of 27.03.
Helping Peaty bounce back from missing his first 100m breast podium in nearly a decade was longtime British and English teammate James Guy.
“Jimmy last night said ‘mate, don’t let the swimming define you’.
“It was kind of like a light switch. As sportspeople, we always think our results define us and the whole world sees us as our results,” Peaty told media today in Birmingham.
“But you know what, I have still done what I’ve done over the last eight years, still won every single championship, done all the world records – that hasn’t taken away from me, I’ve had one bad day at the office.”
From Guy’s point-of-view, the multi-Olympic medalist said of his words to Peaty, “I was chatting to him and he was a bit upset and I was like ‘mate, this is the one bad swim you’ve had in about 10 years.’
“You’re more than just a swimmer, it’s just a part of our journey, our career. Think about all the fourths I’ve got and not making the podium.
“Don’t let swimming define who you are – one bad race, it’s just a bad day at the office. We’ve all been there, don’t over-think it for goodness sake.”
I completely understand Jimmy Guy’s comments. Unfortunately it’s difficult as swimming in the UK barely gets any mainstream exposure aside from the Olympics. Adam, perhaps wrongly given his recent injury was labelled by the media as one of the faces of the games for England and his race was shown live prime time Sunday night on the biggest channel in the UK. Its sad therfore that for many casual swimming viewers, this is how they will judge Adam without fully understanding the extraordinary feats he has achieved in the sport.
Good thing he has Guy and other teammates to help him in the unknown feeling for him to lose in 8 years.
Hopefully he takes the time needed for his foot and his mind
Hasn’t he already been taking long breaks?
The mustache can be both a curse or a blessing… we never know until we do
A broken foot is more than just 6-8 weeks off to heal the bone. Once the cast is off the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to that foot, ankle, and leg are not able to work in sync with the other leg, ankle, and foot. This takes time to rebuild the flexibility, strength, and neuromuscular activation. I think he did really great considering the short time he has been back in the pool.
59.86 isn’t that far removed from “Cody Miller at the 2020 Olympic Trials” territory. If this guy doesn’t break 58.5 at any meet before the end of this year, then he can officially be considered washed up. (His two rounds of 27+ 50 breast seem to indicate that he has also lost most of his front-end speed. Remember that he was breaking 26 seconds twice around 5 years ago.’
Lesson #1 in how to aim for the most amount of downvotes possible. Write a swimmer off immediately based on a performance 10-weeks removed from a broken foot.
That why James guy is the GUY 😂
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he retires after these games. If a home games about 40 minutes down the road from where you live and chance to compete in front of your family and friends after 2 years of no crowd doesn’t give you the spark then I struggle to think of what will given everything he has already achieved in his career.
Switching to the 1500m freestyle will regain that spark for him
As much as they talk them up as being a “big meet” maybe it’s just a lack of drive for Commies?
That plus the injury, eh I could see being a little flat. But you do make a good point, forgot about it being a home meet, basically.
Ya all of that energy should of magically healed his broken foot.
You’d be surprised to find out how many athletes (including myself) hate to compete in front of their home crowd