Adam Peaty had an afternoon to remember, the Olympic champion breaking records galore to help guide his London Roar team into the International Swim League (ISL) final.
Winning the 50m Breaststroke on day one of action on Saturday boded extremely well for Peaty ahead of his favoured 100m event today, and he didn’t disappoint.
To the fore throughout, Peaty used his superior swimming ability down the final 25 metres to overhaul short course specialist Ilya Shymanovich and touch the wall in a new world record time of 55.49.
Naturally that was also a British, European and ISL record, as he adds the short course mark to his long course world record.
Of that sensational performance, Peaty said:
“That’s my first short course world record – obviously I struggle with short course! Ilya took so much out of me on those turns but in that last length I just thought right, no one works harder. That’s what we’ve been doing for 10 years, for moments like that.
“But it’s all about a learning process – that isn’t my best swim – it’s a world record but I know I can be faster. That was for my family tonight.
“When you’ve got a great team here and back home, analysing the data, it makes it all worth it; it’s my victory but it’s as much there’s as well.”
Peaty wasn’t done there though, as London Roar Head Coach and British Swimming National Centre Loughborough Lead Coach Mel Marshall opted to choose breaststroke as the stroke for the Men’s 50m Skins, which closed out the semi-final.
With four of the eight swimmers eliminated after the first two lengths, Peaty didn’t mess around, touching first in a new British record of 25.48, stealing jackpot points in the process. In truth no one could match him, as with just three minutes rest in between he took the next two races to triumph and add 35 points to London Roar’s tally, to see them into the final.
Duncan Scott also showed just how good a swimmer he is as he took apart a world class field to win the Men’s 200m Freestyle by a full body length. The Steve Tigg coached swimmer has been an asset for London Roar during this ISL season, his versatility crucial as he fast becomes one of the vest multi-eventers in the world.
Looking composed throughout, Scott dominated the 200 Free as he did in the 200m IM yesterday, touching in 1.40.76 to break both the British and ISL records. Of this efforts the University of Stirling man said:
“I’m a little surprised, given how far off I was at the start of the week, but I had a bit of rest and shaved down and it shows what a difference that can make. It’s also about mentality and trying to build through the meet; the semi-finals were the first time where we had to perform, whereas the rest of the time it has just been about getting the points that we need to get through to this stage. I’m delighted to be able to PB in both of those races and you can’t complain about a PB at all!
“It was a big day for the Roar and there were some outrageous swims - to secure the final place is the cherry on top. This is just another building block and as Mel said it’s about fine tuning the little things, as we have a big challenge ahead.”
His teammate Tom Dean also brought the kind of form that saw him take a maiden 400m Freestyle victory yesterday as he touched fourth, helping Roar to more valuable points as they charged towards a place in the final.
Scott was also on phenomenal form over half the distance as he, Freya Anderson and Anna Hopkin propelled Roar to victory in the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle relay. Scott split sub 46 on the second leg before Anderson and Hopkin completed the job to see Roar home almost half a second clear of their only real challengers, Energy Standard.
Anderson got Roar off to a fantastic start on day two as she delivered a typically strong back end to take second in the Women’s 100m Freestyle, another personal best performance as she edges closer to the British short course record for the event. Half an hour later she was back in the water for the 200m event, third this time round thanks to yet another superb swim.
In the Women’s 400m Individual Medley Abbie Wood obliterated her personal best once more with a great swim for third place. In what was her last effort of the ISL season, as her team New York Breakers will not progress to the final, but she rounded out a month of impressive swims that have seen her really emerge at senior international level. Sticking with the women, another British record fell in the 100m Breaststroke as Molly Renshaw clocked 1.04.73 to finish fifth for Breakers, a great end to her inaugural ISL season.
Max Litchfield went one place better than Wood in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley, touching second to add more points to Energy Standard’s tally as they ultimately won the match. Brother Joe was another to keep his strong ISL form going as he touched fourth in the 100m Individual Medley, his fastest time of the series so far. There was also a promising swim for Kathleen Dawson, fifth in the 100m Backstroke and her fastest time since returning from knee surgery.
Energy Standard and London Roar are the two teams who advance to the Grand Final, which takes place on 21st and 22nd November. Before then you can watch semi-final two, which commences at 5pm this evening and concludes at the same time on Monday.