Adam Peaty picks up 'confidence boost' as he sets world marker

Adam Peaty clocked the fastest 100m Breaststroke time in the world this year as he stormed to victory at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet.

Peaty finished in a time of 58.73 at the Royal Commonwealth Pool – half a second quicker than his Loughborough team-mate James Wilby (59.23), who took the silver medal ahead of University of Stirling’s Ross Murdoch (1:00.99).

And Peaty admitted he wasn’t expecting to achieve that mark at this stage of the season.

He said: “This was a real confidence boost for me because I didn’t think I’d get anywhere near that.

“I’m stronger than ever in training but now it’s about resting up and seeing where we get mid-season.

“Here I didn’t think I’d get into that number one ranking spot.”

Wilby was also delighted with his performance after a hectic few weeks.

He said: “I’m pretty happy with that.

“This is my second competition on the trot – I did Iowa last week and this one this week and I’m really happy to be consistently around these times, especially after all the travel.

“This cycle last year was really good for me, winning the Commonwealth Games, so I’m just looking to make incremental improvements on that, with the long-term goal being Tokyo.

“With the work that’s being going on in the pool and the gym, and balancing University, I’m really happy with the position we’re in this far out from trials.”

Guy claims second title

Meanwhile, James Guy also continued his good form ahead of the British Swimming Championships, which begin on 16 April.

After winning the 200m Freestyle in a competition record of 1:47.66 on the opening day of the competition, the Bath University swimmer followed that up with victory in the 200m Butterfly on day two.

His time of 1:57.81 put him 1.26 seconds ahead of University of Stirling’s Duncan Scott.

City of Sheffield’s Joe Litchfield won the first gold medal on day two with victory in the 400m Individual Medley.

He touched in 4:21.69 to finish more than half a second clear of Millfield’s Brodie Williams (4:22.25).

In the women’s race, Aimee Willmott won by an impressive 4.16 seconds.

The Commonwealth Games champion clocked 4:40.93, with Loughborough’s Leah Crisp taking the silver in a time of 4:45.09.

All the results are available on the Swim Scotland website.

Main picture: British Swimming Twitter

Top