Britain's Peaty wants to leave big swimming legacy

REUTERS - Britain's Olympic breaststroke champion Adam Peaty wants to leave a sporting legacy that "cannot be touched", as he looks ahead to next year's Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Olympics.

Peaty won the 100 metres breaststroke at the Rio de Janeiro Games last year and followed that by winning the 50m and 100m golds at the world championships in Budapest in July.

He is on a mission to break his world record in the 100 metres breaststroke by becoming the first man to go under 57 seconds.

Peaty is not ruling out the possibility of achieving the feat at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next year, but felt the Tokyo Olympics offered him a more realistic platform.

"I believe if I can get down to that 56 low mark, it won't be touched for a long time which is what I want. I want to leave a legacy in the sport that can't be touched," he told Britain's Daily Telegraph.

"I don't think you can ever know. The (Commonwealth) Games are in April and you never really hit your peak until later in the year," he added.

"Maybe it will come this season, maybe next, but by Tokyo 2020 I'm pretty sure I'll be in the right shape and ready to get that," the 22-year-old, who also holds the 50 metres breaststroke world record, said.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)