Adam Peaty is convinced the morning starts for swimming finals are contributing to uncertainty in the pool at Tokyo 2020 and hopes defending his Olympic title sparks a gold rush for TeamGB.
Organisers have scheduled swimming finals to take place earlier in the day in the Japanese capital, with the heats being held in the evening.
There have been some notable shocks already, with home favourite Daiya Seto failing to make it out of the heats in the men's 400 metres individual medley, while Tunisian teenager Ahmed Hafnaoui earned an upset win from lane eight in the final of the 400m freestyle.
Coming into the Games, there was talk of whether Peaty could beat his own astonishing world record of 56.88 seconds in the 100m breaststroke.
While unable to do so, Peaty still dominated the competition, winning Monday's final in a time of 57.13, the fifth fastest of all time.
For 26-year-old Peaty, ensuring he got the job done was the all-encompassing motivator given the way others have struggled.
"To be honest, I've never known swimming like this before," Peaty told a roundtable of journalists after winning gold in Tokyo.
"Normally you've got a solid one-two or maybe three if you can call it. You can't really predict it, in the 400 free there was a Tunisian guy [Hafnaoui] who won it in lane eight.
"You can't predict that, so I think it is something to do with the morning finals and it's how the athletes adapt to that. I think it was the same in Beijing.
"Sport is changing and the way we adapt, we train, and focus on mind and body and how we have to balance those.
"I mean I'm fed up of talking about COVID but it's given us a chance to sort of really think differently about that and there's been a few breakout performances from COVID.
"Would the medal table look very different last year? We don't know and we'll never know, but yeah it's definitely different."
Peaty, who became a father within the last year, was very open about the pressures he has been through in recent times.
Asked about the contributing factors to that pressure, Peaty said: "I mean put it simply we've seen over these two days, maybe three days, which is a lot of unexpected performances.
"A lot of people who should be going in here defending and winning medals are kicked out, especially in swimming we had Daiya Seto who is Japanese in the 400IM, he didn't make the final.
"These Games are very, very different, and that's how we talk about pressure now. Mel [Marshall – Peaty's coach] said last night and a few of the other coaches have too, it's not about the times here, no one cares about the times, it's about the race, who wants it more in that last 20 metres.
"It made me think completely differently, that every single championships I chase times because that's kind of validation for my training, I've trained really well this season.
"But it doesn't matter here, it's about the race, getting on that wall first, but also taking in every single trip and every single moment I can for these Olympics and hopefully inspiring as many people as I can while doing it."
It was five years ago in Rio where Peaty won TeamGB's first gold of the Games, acting as the springboard for a hugely successful Olympics whereby Great Britain won 27 golds and finished second in the medal table.
His success in Tokyo was also TeamGB's first and was quickly followed by triumphs for Tom Daley and Matty Lee in the men's 10m synchronised diving, while Tom Pidcock won the men's cross-country in mountain biking.
"I literally caught it, I caught Tom and Matt on the last dive and it was anti-climactic for me because I don't know how many rounds there are in diving – and I saw them dive, and I saw the Chinese dive because I think they were the last to go and I saw Tom celebrating and I thought 'oh my God they must have won' and yeah that's the beauty," added Peaty, who became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title.
"I said that it could be a catalyst, not that it's down to me, those athletes are amazing. But it shows you when we come together as a team and show that kind of community spirit anything is possible.
"We've got three golds, who knows what the rest is going to bring, what the rest of the week is going to bring.
"I know Duncan Scott is up in the morning on the 200 free and he's a very strong candidate for gold there. Hopefully we've got it rolling now and we'll see the gold rush, eh?"
Dylan Carter headlines T&T's team to World Short Course Championships
Trinidad and Tobago’s ace swimmer Dylan Carter headlines a three-member team that will represent the Twin Island Republic at the World Aquatics World Short Course (25m) Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The six-day event, scheduled for December 10–15, promises exciting prospects for aquatics enthusiasts as it will feature morning heats and evening semi-finals and finals.
Carter will enter the championship in rich form following his fairly successful World Aquatics Swimming World Cup outing recently, where he pocketed two gold medals and one bronze during the three-leg competition.
The decorated 28-year-old, who is a many-time World Short Course medallist and Olympian, is scheduled to swim the men’s 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 50m butterfly.
He will be joined by rising sensation Nikoli Blackman, who is currently in his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee. Blackman, a talented and versatile swimmer, will only contest the men’s 200m freestyle event.
Meanwhile, Zuri Ferguson, who paraded her skills at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, is the lone female member of the team. The University of Florida freshman will be targeting at least best times in the women’s 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke events.
Another female swimmer, Ornella Walker, who recently shattered Trinidad and Tobago’s 50m and 100m backstroke records, also qualified to make the team but opted not to take up her spot on this occasion.
T&T's Dylan Carter cops gold in men's 50m freestyle at Swimming World Cup
Trinidad and Tobago’s ace swimmer Dylan Carter secured his second gold of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Series as he produced a breathtaking performance to land win the men’s 50-metre freestyle in Singapore on Thursday.
Carter, a three-time Olympian, won the event in a brisk 20.82 seconds and left the field in his wake as he was the only swimmer under the 21-second barrier in the final. He won ahead of Australia’s Isaac Cooper (21.01s) and Germany’s Marius Kusch (21.04s).
The 28-year-old Carter is expected to line up in the heats of the men’s 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle on Thursday’s evening session before bringing the curtains down on his campaign in the men’s 50m butterfly on Friday.
Samuda empathizes with Comm Games Federation over scaled-down 2026 event; urges possible compensation for excluded sports
Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) president, Christopher Samuda, has expressed understanding and empathy toward the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) as they face the challenge of hosting a scaled-down version of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
With the event, traditionally a grand celebration of sport, culture, and unity, being reduced in size due to economic pressures, Samuda acknowledges the difficulties facing the CGF while also stressing the need to find ways to address the impact this decision will have on several sports that have been cut from the programme.
Diving, rugby, squash, badminton, table tennis, hockey, triathlon, and cricket are among the sports that will not feature in the 2026 edition.
The CGF initially struggled to find a host after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew last year, before Glasgow, known for its rich sporting history as a host city—including hosting the 2014 edition of the game—stepped in to save the 2026 Games. However, this comes with the reality of hosting a more compact edition than previous iterations.
For Samuda, the situation is an unfortunate but understandable outcome in a global landscape.
“The circumstances in which the Commonwealth Games Federation unavoidably found itself inevitably led to a scaled-down edition of the games. I regret the exclusion of badminton, table tennis, squash, and hockey; for those sports, the Jamaica Olympic Association has earmarked for real transitioning. The CGF’s decision was clearly influenced by commercial factors and the economy of a diminished sporting agenda, for at the end of the day, the games must be viable to ensure sustainability,” Samuda said.
However, Samuda also noted that the decision to reduce the scope of the Games, which will see several sports omitted from the 2026 programme, raises important questions about the future of those disciplines within the Commonwealth sporting family.
He argued that the CGF must find ways to compensate the sports that have been excluded, as they are integral to the diversity and spirit of the Commonwealth Games.
“Going forward, however, the CGF has to develop a strategy that will compensate those sports that are being excluded so as not to lose the interest and confidence of their international federations, commercial partners, and most importantly, the players and athletes for whom sports exist,” he reasoned.
Despite the current challenges, Samuda remains optimistic about the future of the Commonwealth Games and the role it plays in uniting nations through sport. He sees the 2026 edition in Glasgow as an opportunity to innovate and adapt, ensuring that the Games remain relevant in a changing world.
The Games will feature a 10-sport programme across four venues within an eight-mile corridor, with more than 500,000 tickets made available for spectators.
Athletics and swimming are included as compulsory sports for 2026, while there will also be track cycling, gymnastics, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls, and 3x3 basketball.
“It is critical that the next games, while being an economic reinvention, should retain that unique traditional value that has given many sports and invaluable space on the Commonwealth sporting agenda and which have made it competitive as a sporting and commercial product amidst growing competition for the partnership dollar and public viewership and appeal,” Samuda said.
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