Three months until Tokyo and Adam Peaty is busy trying NOT to live his Olympic dream.
All signs point to glory, to the Staffordshire pool terrier becoming the first British swimmer to retain an individual gold medal.
A glance down the list of all-time great performances in his event, the 100m breaststroke, and Peaty sees only himself. The 20 fastest times, all bearing his name.
The announcement today of Team GB’s swimming team for Japan holds no jeopardy. His spot was confirmed long ago.
Not even lockdown and having to train in a five-metre flume pool in his garden slowed his progress. He went from back yard to a 12th world record in November.
Where then is the fear driving the first human to go under 57 seconds in an event in which no-one else has got even close to 58?
“In my dreams,” comes the reply.
This is a man so dominant his coach has had to devise Project Immortal, a challenge without end to set a time that generations to come consider untouchable.
Yet he reveals: “I dream of getting beaten. I dreamed at trials of missing my race and not qualifying for the Olympics.
“Sometimes you wake up thinking ‘bloody hell, that was horrible’. But that’s normal for a high achiever and a high-performance mindset. It keeps you on your edge.
“The sword is most deadly when it’s sharp. If you thought you weren’t going to get beaten you’d become complacent.”
Peaty, 26, uses his nightmares to fuel his ambition, to say ‘I’m not going to let that happen’, to work even harder.
“It’s about having the right mixture - part doubt, huge part confidence - so that my sword is sharp enough to get what I need,” he explained. "It's my obsession for self-improvement."
He says he has always had it. Never satisfied, always chasing the next goal.
First it was wanting to be the best in the county, then his region, Britain, Europe, finally the world.
Where you go from there is a question few ever have to ponder. The only way is down yet Peaty, partner to Eiri and father to baby George, keeps looking up.
“Sometimes I have to ask Eiri to go and stay with her parents because I need this part of my life to be extremely focused,” he said.
“It’s a very linear, selfish way of thinking but I’m obsessed with performing and beating people to the mark.
“There’s no feeling like the cocktail of nerves, the mixture of emotion and drive and adrenalin when you’re going at full speed in an Olympic final.”
Peaty satisfied this need for speed on a track day at Oulton Park with sponsor CUPRA before turning his thoughts back to what he might achieve in Tokyo.
“We don’t know what the challenges are going to be out there, what’s going to happen with Covid and the restrictions around that,” he said.
“But I’ve never swum this fast in April so it would be bonkers not to say we could reach under the world record.”
Adam Peaty drives the CUPRA Formentor, the high-performance coupé crossover SUV that embodies the CUPRA DNA: sophistication, innovation and a dynamic driving experience. For more information visit www.cupraofficial.co.uk
Men 100m Breaststroke rankings
(all-time top 20)
1 Adam Peaty 56.88 ( world record , July 2019)
2 Peaty 57.10 ( WR , Aug 2018)
3 Peaty 57.13 ( WR , Aug 2016)
4 Peaty 57.14
5 Peaty 57.39
6 Peaty 57.47
7 Peaty 57.55 ( WR , Aug 2016)
8 Peaty 57.59
9 Peaty 57.62
10 Peaty 57.70
11 Peaty 57.75
12 Peaty 57.79
13 Peaty 57.87
14 Peaty 57.89
15 Peaty 57.92 ( WR , Apr 2015)
16 Peaty 58.04
17 Peaty 58.13
18 Peaty 58.15
19 Peaty 58.18
20 Peaty 58.21
21 Ilya Shymanovich (BLR) 58.29
Peaty has held world record since 2015 when eclipsing 58.46secs mark set by South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh at London 2012 Olympics
