Adam Peaty<\/strong> treated the crowd at the Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Centre to a performance only he and 2012 champion Cameron van der Burgh<\/strong> have bettered in Olympic waters as he won the McCullagh International title in 58.78.<\/p>\n

Out in 27.42 and back in 31.36, the Olympic champion cut 0.02secs from the time he set in heats on Thursday evening with the meet in Bangor, Northern Ireland, holding finals in the morning, mirroring the schedule in Tokyo in July.<\/p>\n

James Wilby<\/strong>, who won silver behind Peaty at last year\u2019s World Championships, was second in 59.91 with Ross Murdoch<\/strong> third in 1:00.54.<\/p>\n

Duncan Scott<\/strong> won the 100 free in 48.86 while Aimee Willmott, Mona McSharry, Max Litchfield<\/strong> and Dan Jervis<\/strong> were among others who made their way to the top step of the podium with Siobhan O\u2019Connor<\/strong> and Sarah Vasey<\/strong> sharing it in the 100m breaststroke.<\/p>\n

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Adam Peaty – Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant<\/p><\/div>\n
Such is Peaty\u2019s domination, a silent question hangs over each and every pool whenever he takes to the blocks \u2013 \u201cwhat is he going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
The eight-time world champion was greeted with loud cheers when he purposefully strode to his blocks followed by silence as he moved into the final metres of the race, all eyes turning to the scoreboard to the right of the pool as he touched.<\/p>\n
Peaty has recently returned from a five-week training block in Australia with coach Mel Marshall<\/strong> during which he has stripped and reconstructed his dive.<\/p>\n
The world record-holder drew great satisfaction from his performance in his first long-course competition since the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, last July and first since the International Swimming League final in Las Vegas in December.<\/p>\n
He told Swimming World:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is probably 0.2 in it \u2013 probably a 58.5 \u2013 and there is a massive difference between a 58 high and a 58 low.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am coming up at 16 metres now (following his dive), rather than at 14, and when the legs are rested hopefully I can glide through. I\u2019m a higher weight than I normally am in racing so I mean I struggle to do 58 high towards the end of the season before a big meet like the worlds or Olympics so to do that already is really good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t raced since worlds so I am building that confidence down the first 50, trying to see what it\u2019s like on the last 50 because I got so used to short-course where it\u2019s very different.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously add that into the mix with morning finals and a lot of people went slower, some nudged faster this morning but I think it does have a massive impact on the way you prepare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we are already doing, we\u2019re already testing things for Tokyo and trying to get ahead of the curve.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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58.78 \u26a1\ufe0f@adam_peaty<\/a> still unstoppable in Men\u2019s 100 Breast \ud83c\udf2a #McCullagh20<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/urPBd655IW<\/a><\/p>\n
— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) February 21, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n