Adam Peaty's bold comeback: Beyond medals and records at Doha 2024
Britain's triple Olympic champion Adam Peaty is back at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships, overcoming career obstacles for his first long-course Worlds in five years.
Adam Peaty can finally see the light again.
After winning three Olympic, eight World, and 15 European titles in an astonishing eight-year period - which also included clocking the fastest 20 times in history in the 100m breaststroke - everything came crumbling down in 2022.
The British swimmer was burnt out and turned to alcohol after a broken foot which led to a disappointing 2022 Commonwealth Games, while also dealing with the end of his relationship at home and being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
He took a six-month mental health break in 2023 to deal with what he described as ‘the devil on my shoulder’, and even thought of quitting the sport altogether.
Ahead of the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships, his first Worlds in five years, we take a look at how Peaty was able to come through the most difficult part of his career, and how his mental approach towards swimming has changed.
Adam Peaty's new mindset
During that break from the endless cycle of intense training and competition last year, Peaty finally had the space to think and reevaluate what was important to him.
After spending time with Australian freestyle sprint king Kyle Chalmers and Olympic chaplain Dr Ashley Null, Peaty decided to let go of what he could not control.
He started focussing all of his energy on his family and friends, his new-found faith, and swimming - but not as it was before.
For starters, there was his appearance.
A new tattoo that appeared on his torso of a cross and the wording “Into The Light” told its own story.
Adam Peaty prepares for the men's 100m breaststroke at the 2023 World Cup in Budapest
But, more importantly, his instrinsic why had changed.
Instead of swimming for records and medals, he wanted to prove himself as a human and show that this comeback was possible.
“For the first time in my life, I’m bothered about the challenge to myself, to prove to myself that I can come from the lowest point of my career – even though I had all the golds and all the world records and I know how that felt,” Peaty told Swimming World.
“But now I’m just going to come back and give myself the challenge and give myself one huge opportunity to get the best out of myself – in all areas of my life.”
Getting in shape for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Then came the physical part.
Swimming is a particularly ruthless sport, where it is said that every day out of the pool requires two days of training to recapture that water fitness.
Peaty’s “Project Immortal” - where his goal was to achieve a world record that would never be broken - was replaced by “Project Re-Contracting”.
The Uttoxeter native assembled a new entourage – including long-time coach Mel Marshall, his agent, psychologist and top sports scientists – to map a route to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
“We agreed to completely change it all,” Marshall told State of Swimming. “We changed the camps, the competitions, the venues we’d visit; we re-contracted and we’re going to give it a good go. We should all be proud of what we’re working on. That’s where it’s at and it will be hard, It will be very difficult.”
He returned to competition in September 2023 at the Berlin World Cup, where he finished sixth in the 100m breaststroke in 59.85 - three seconds off his world record - but enjoyed the experience and adopted a holistic outlook on his performance.
"I'm not doing this for any other person than me, for the first time ever. I don't have to be here. I want to be here, enjoy it and be the best."
“I want to learn. I want to be a better person. I want to give more to the grassroots and provide more. It’s liberating: if I go to the [next] Olympics and if I quantify my whole journey, my whole career – If I go another four years, [to Los Angeles 2028], who knows – this whole year of learning on a medal or a time, it doesn’t matter what I achieve, I’d always see it as a defeat in my head.”
Peaty changes diet to fuel success
Another part of Peaty's physical transformation came in the food he was consuming.
He went vegan in 2018, but struggled to incorporate enough protein into his diet which led to a loss of muscle and performance.
Subsequently, he started eating animal proteins again to fuel his performance, while occasionally substituting them for a plant-based alternative.
These days, to fuel his intense training sessions, the breaststroker will consume between 6,000 and 8,000 calories per day.
Usually, that will include two breakfasts at 6am and 9.30am, chicken, vegetables and rice for lunch, then a combination of sweet potato, chicken or fish, wholemeal toast, and protein shakes, for the rest of the day.
Adam Peaty’s new rivals
In Peaty’s absence, Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi secured two breaststroke titles at the 2022 Worlds, before a new star took the men’s division by storm in People’s Republic of China swimmer Qin Haiyang.
The 200m world record holder took an unprecedented clean sweep of the three breaststroke events at last July's World Championships in Fukuoka, and made no secret of his desire to break Peaty's 50 and 100-metre world records.
“What he’s done is very, very impressive,” admitted Peaty to BBC Sport of his 24-year-old rival.
“It excites me, because if it’s all too easy it’s almost not worth winning, and if it’s one person winning all the time it can become stale, so sport needs rivalries in order to thrive. So, I accept that challenge, but it’s in a more balanced manner.”
Evidently, the all-out competitor in Peaty is still there, just with a greater sense of perspective about what it means to win races.
He undoubtedly thrives when swimming for a purpose, and his new mission in the water should send a stark warning to his rivals: The breaststroke GOAT is back.