Adam Peaty became the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title with a dominant display in the final of the men’s 100 metres breaststroke at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. While he was unable to break his own world record of 56.88 seconds, the 26-year-old from Uttoxeter stormed to Team GB’s first gold of Tokyo 2020 in a time of 57.37secs. Arno Kamminga, the only swimmer other than Peaty to breach the 58-second barrier in this event, was a distant 0.63s behind in second. Nicolo Martinenghi collected bronze in a time of 58.33s as Peaty’s compatriot James Wilby missed out on a podium position, settling for fifth as he clocked 58.96s. There was an air of inevitability to Peaty’s victory as he recorded the fifth fastest time in the history. Not only is his personal best over this distance almost one second better than anyone else in the sport, but he continued a proud record of being undefeated in seven years in major competitions. “I haven’t felt this good since 2016, it just means the world to me,” Peaty told the BBC. “I didn’t have the best preparation of my life. But you throw that out the window. “That’s really what it takes to be an athlete. It’s not who’s the best all year round, it’s who’s the best on the day.” A version of this article originally appeared on NationalWorld.com
