Adam Peaty Targets LA 2028 as He Prepares for Return to the Pool in London

Adam Peaty is back, and he is not pretending it will be easy.

The three-time Olympic champion, who nearly walked away from the sport before Paris 2024, is preparing for a return to the London Aquatics Centre this week at the British Championships — a crucial stepping stone on a road that he hopes ends at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Speaking ahead of the meet, Peaty was candid about the challenge ahead. "The next two years are probably going to be the hardest of my career," he told BBC Breakfast. "There probably won't be much winning, but the one win that does matter is LA."

The timing of his return carries particular significance. The 50 metre breaststroke has been added to the Olympic programme for 2028, giving Peaty a second opportunity at individual gold — something that helped convince him to continue after the turbulence of recent years. He won gold in the 100m at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021, but was denied a historic triple at Paris when Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi claimed victory in the 100m final. Compounding the challenge, Peaty had contracted coronavirus in the days leading up to that race.

"With the cards I was dealt I swam out of my skin," Peaty reflected. "I shouldn't have got a silver medal."

The road to LA begins in earnest this week. Peaty will compete over both the 50m and 100m distances in London, with eyes on a sequence of major competitions that includes the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, European Championships, and ultimately the Games on America's west coast. He was fourth in the 100m at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet a month ago, beaten by 18-year-old British junior world champion Filip Nowacki — a result that underlines the depth of the domestic competition awaiting him.

Peaty has spoken openly about the mental health struggles that nearly ended his career, describing a "self-destructive spiral" in the build-up to Paris. Now, married to model Holly Ramsay — daughter of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay — and with his young son close by, he says the foundations for another tilt at the summit have never been stronger.

"It gives an incredible amount of peace, the life we've got together," Peaty said. "But also that I can do this incredible thing which I call sport."

Off the pool deck, Peaty has found a kindred spirit in his father-in-law. He completed his debut triathlon as part of Team Ramsay last August and admits Gordon's legendary intensity extends well beyond the kitchen.

"He's very inspiring," Peaty said. "I take a lot of guidance. I look up to him a lot... in terms of sport, he knows the game is the game, that it doesn't lie. But it will humble you and you've got to work hard for those results."

He also confessed that Gordon's wedding speech at his December ceremony was impossible to top. "It was always going to be hard to beat Gordon's speech," Peaty laughed. "He was able to bring the room together because that's what a wedding is in my eyes — that you bring these people from all areas of your life, you bring them together."

Peaty returns to the water this week a changed athlete, but with the same burning ambition that has made him the dominant force in global breaststroke racing for the best part of a decade. In Los Angeles, he intends to be the one standing highest on the podium.

"The Olympics is the one that excites me. That is the one that really gets me out of bed every day, the one I dream of."