{"id":228401,"date":"2016-11-08T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=228401"},"modified":"2016-11-08T08:43:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:43:24","slug":"how-adam-peaty-changed-sprint-breaststroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/how-adam-peaty-changed-sprint-breaststroke\/","title":{"rendered":"How Adam Peaty Changed Sprint Breaststroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alec Scott, Swimming World College Intern.<\/em><\/p>\n

Adam Peaty<\/strong> burst onto the international swimming scene with a stunning 57.82 world record at the British championships in April 2015. He backed that performance up with world titles in the 50 and 100 meter breaststroke at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia. And then he announced himself to the world in Rio, winning Olympic gold in the 100 meter breaststroke in a ridiculous new world record of 57.13.<\/p>\n

Outside of the record-breaking swims the thing about Peaty that has enamored coaches and swimmers everywhere is that he has changed the way we look at sprint breaststroke race strategy and technique. Peaty swims with a stroke rate that his competitors simply cannot match and he does it without losing efficiency.<\/p>\n

In the Olympic final, Peaty crushed the competition winning the race by over one and a half seconds. Blowing away the competition is significant enough but the manner in which Peaty accomplished this makes it even more incredible. Peaty took 21 strokes going out and 25 coming back. Compare that to silver medalist Cameron van der Burgh<\/strong> who took 18 strokes going out and 23 coming back and bronze medalist Cody Miller<\/strong> who took 18 strokes going out and 22 coming back. These stats are even more compelling because Peaty also has a height advantage over the other medalists, Peaty is 6\u20193\u201d, while van der Burgh is 6\u20190\u201d and Miller is 5\u201911\u201d. Despite being the taller athlete, Peaty is still able to take more strokes and maintain a higher stroke-rate than his nearest competitors without compromising his line.<\/p>\n