Peaty had previously admitted he was not convinced he would carry on competing after an emotionally and physically draining silver-medal finish at Paris 2024.
But the multiple world, Olympic, European and Commonwealth Games gold medal winner now talks of “unfinished business” at the Games, having ended up in second place despite catching Covid-19.
“I finished that race and even though I was happy and felt I had a great performance, it wasn’t enough for me to have that as my last race or one of my last races,” he said.
“I prepared for Paris and didn’t get what I wanted, so I have that in the back of my mind now. And sometimes you need that fuel, you need a loss to appreciate it and go for the win next time.
“That’s not going to define who I am for my whole career. I just know there is so much more in there.”
Discovering what sort of swimmer he can be at 30 is something Peaty is doing with new coach Jamie Main at his new training base at Repton School in Derbyshire.
His decision to leave Aquatic GB’s performance centre at Loughborough University came after his long-time coach Mel Marshall decided to take a job in Australia.
“I was fortunate enough to have Mel as my coach for the last 15 years,” Peaty said.
“We pioneered things, broke world records and won all these golds, and almost rewrote that stroke in terms of sprint breaststroke, which is incredible.
“But now the real challenge for me comes from growing in certain aspects of accountability, learning how to do it as an adult, how to do it as a father, how to do it faster.
“Also working with Jamie and the coaches at Repton, with all the facilities here, how can we do it in the way we most love and in a way we thrive every single day?
“It’s a very different campaign, a very different mission this time around.”
