I can go even lower, insists Peaty, after second world title

Gold medal winner Adam Peaty of Britain on the podium during the awarding ceremony of men's 50m breaststroke final of the World Aquatics Championships in the Duna Arena in Budapest (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

Three years to the day since his first major championship title, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Peaty added the 50 metres breaststroke world gold to the 100m he won on Monday.

Peaty finished in 25.99 seconds, 0.04secs outside his own world record set on Tuesday, and returned to the pool little more than an hour later in the 4x100m mixed medley relay.

But even the presence of the talisman could not propel Britain to the podium as the United States won gold in a world record. Britain were fifth.

“In the final it’s obviously going to be a little bit more tense. You’re fighting for a title, not the world record,” said the 22-year-old Uttoxeter swimmer.

“I just wanted to get out there, get the gold, get back do the relay and focus on Sunday (in the 4x100m men’s medley relay) now.

“(Finishing in) 25 (seconds) makes it official that I’m a 25-point swimmer now, so that’s good. I don’t want to set it to 25.7, 25.6 and then not be able to do it again.

“We’re starting to look at very fast times now for 50 breaststroke and I’m pretty sure I took an extra stroke that I shouldn’t have taken, that slowed me down.”

Peaty now has five world golds in his career, more than any other Briton, earning four individually and one from a relay success two years ago. David Wilkie, another breaststroke swimmer, is next best, having won three world titles in 1973 and 1975.

And Peaty is in fine form, clocking the second quickest 100m time in history – behind only his Olympic-winning swim of 57.13 –which has given him confidence he can achieve ‘Project 56’, swimming 100m under 57 seconds.

Peaty’s focus turned to targeting another medal in the 4x100m men’s medley relay on Sunday’s final day. “These last four days have been very, very hard work,” added Peaty.

“I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions – world records at the top and then trying to get myself grounded for the next race.

Britain now have three gold medals from the 17th World Championships.

Yorkshire’s Max Litchfield will also look to add to that tonight when he swims in the final of the 200m individual medley after progressing from the semi-final in third place.