Tonight in the men’s 100m breaststroke final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Peaty finished 4th in 59.86. Gold was taken by England teammate James Wilby, who topped the podium in 59.25, while Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook took silver in 59.52. Rounding out the top 3 was Australia’s Sam Williamson in 59.82, which meant Olympian and world record holder Peaty was the odd man out here in Birmingham. However, the fact that Peaty is even competing here is a feat in itself, as the reigning ace has been rehabilitating a broken leg since at least May of this year. The injury ruled him out of the pool for this year’s World Championships and the father-of-one is just now working his way back into form. Peaty holds the World Record in a monstrous time of 56.88 set nearly 3 years ago in Gwangju. More recently, at the 2020 Olympics, Peaty beat the field in Tokyo by another significant margin, taking gold in 57.37. The fact that Peaty stopped the clock in a somewhat pedestrian (for him!) time of 59.86 is just an indication that the man is getting back into the groove after being out of the water for several weeks this year. We’ll see what the British ace can throw down in just a few weeks at this year’s European Championships
