Adam Ramsay-Peaty in search of answers after European Aquatics Championships early exit - 'So bad that I'm confused'
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By Ben Grounds
Published 14/08/2026 at 20:56 GMT+1
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Adam Ramsay-Peaty has admitted he is "confused" after his difficult European Championships continued with an early exit from the 50m breaststroke in Paris. The three-time Olympic champion and world-record holder was unable to recover from a poor start in his heat, finishing eighth in 27.34 seconds and 20th overall.
'I'm not too fussed about the medals' - Ramsay-Peaty reflects on 50m breaststroke bronze
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The top 16 progressed to the semi-finals, meaning Ramsay-Peaty - who won four straight European titles between 2014 and 2021 - was absent.
Ramsay-Peaty holds the world record of 25.95s in the event, but he was left searching for answers after another disappointing performance.
"These performances are not good enough at all," he said in an interview with Swimmingworldmagazine.com.
"I'm like it’s so bad that I’m confused. I don’t really know where to start on a debrief, but it’s not good enough for the semis of the Euros. It’s very frustrating but I'm hoping we can figure it out."
The 31-year-old has endured a difficult period since winning 100m breaststroke bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He went on to claim another bronze in the 50m and silver in the relay.
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Watch: Adam Ramsay-Peaty takes 50m breaststroke bronze as Sam Williamson wins ANOTHER gold
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His struggles have continued in Paris, where he finished fifth in the 100m and fourth in the mixed medley relay, ending an extraordinary European run, in which he had previously won 16 gold medals from 16 races dating back to 2014.
Ramsay-Peaty has been working with coach Lisa Bates on his dive since mid-June, but he remains uncertain about exactly where the problem lies.
"I don’t really know at this point," he continued. "I don’t think it was reaction time. It’s probably how I’m hitting the water. We only started to deconstruct it two weeks before Rome [Sette Colli] and obviously a lot of things have gone worse since then."
He believes the focus now has to be on identifying where he is losing time off the start and during the underwater phase.
"I think I’ve just got to really change up what I’m doing, to be honest, in a sense of speaking to Lisa and looking at where we’re losing a lot of time because it is the dive and the pull-downs," he said.
Ramsay-Peaty insisted that his swimming itself feels good, but acknowledged that it is not translating into the performances he expects.
He said: "So swimming feels okay. It’s just not enough. And then that’s obviously one of my slowest in-season times. Yeah, it’s very frustrating, very frustrating. But this week is - and Commies [Commonwealth Games] – I think just one of those lessons, right?
"And you want it to be over because you want to get back to work, but at the same time you want to enjoy it as much as you can."
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With the immediate disappointment behind him, Ramsay-Peaty now plans to return to training and analyse the problems with Bates.
"We’ve got to look at it properly and have a good year tacking. These performances are not good enough at all."
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