Olympic Champion Adam Peaty Swaps Pool For Race Track

We’re used to seeing British breaststroker Adam Peaty break records and stand atop podiums when it comes to racing in the swimming pool. But the man recently took on a competitive challenge of another type, steering his way through the curves of a race track.

In the build-up to this summer’s Olympic Games, 26-year-old Peaty has been announced as the new brand ambassador for performance car manufacturer CUPRA. Part of the Volkswagen Group, CUPRA develops high-performance versions of road cars and competes on the tour and rally car circuits.

For Peaty’s challenge, the new dad raced several heats of the Oulton Park Circuit in a CUPRA Formentor Performance SUV, striving to better his timed result with each outing. He knocked it down from 1:32.40 at the onset to 1:24.90 in the final, mimicking the prowess he puts on display in his typical aquatic domain.

Of the parallelling experience, Peaty said, “Every single season I say to myself, what can I do better, how can I get faster, and I take it down to analyzing every single stroke. It really just comes down to me being competitive, it’s not really about racing anyone else, it’s about racing myself, what’s the best version of myself and how can I get faster, and ultimately you want to break world records, so that’s the ultimate goal.

No world records today, but I debriefed myself after every lap and took the same approach as I would in the pool.”

Peaty recently took the British title in his signature 100m breaststroke at the nation’s Oympic Trials, with his result there in London now rendering him the owner of the top 20 fastest performances all-time in the event.