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That moment when even you can’t believe you’ve swum sub 26 seconds in the 50m breaststroke

It looks like the Olympic champion surprised even himself.
It looks like the Olympic champion surprised even himself. It looks like the Olympic champion surprised even himself.

Adam Peaty must have clocked thousands upon thousands of lengths in the pool, but even he was taken by surprise when he made history from his lane.

The 22-year-old Olympic champion, who has already won gold at this year’s World Aquatics Championships in the 100m breaststroke, competed in two 50m breaststroke heats on Tuesday.

In the first, he lowered his own world record from 26.42 seconds to 26.10 – in the second, he did this.

That’s Peaty, becoming the first man to ever swim 50 metres in under 26 seconds with breaststroke.

Even more remarkable perhaps was that this was just the semi-final – who knows what the Briton has to offer with a gold medal at stake?

“I didn’t think I was going to do that,” said Peaty, who shook his head in disbelief after seeing his time.

You’re probably not the only one, Adam.