Australian breaststroker Zac Stubblety-Cook training with British star Adam Peaty

Zac Stubblety-Cook has laid down traditional rivalries to train with British superstar Adam Peaty – and the move is pushing them both to swim faster.

SMETHWICK, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Adam Peaty of Team England celebrates after winning gold in the Men's 50m Breaststroke Final on day five of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at Sandwell Aquatics Centre on August 02, 2022 in Smethwick, Englan (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

There would be an uproar in both countries if Steve Smith and Ben Stokes ever starting trading tips and helping each other out.

But in swimming, unlike cricket, those old colonial rivalries get kicked to the kerb if there’s a common good.

So when Australian best male breaststroker Zac Stubblety-Cook was offered the chance to train with English superstar Adam Peaty, he couldn’t resist.

The Australian is the king of 200m breaststroke while Peaty rules the waves over 100m, so they rarely race each other at the big international meets. But training together over the summer proved a match made in heaven because Stubblety-Cook wanted to work on his speed and Peaty his endurance.

“We did some 100m sets and he definitely got the better of me,” Stubblety-Cook said. “But in the 200m sets, I got the better of him, so it was great to be racing each other like that.”

The pair started practising together on the Gold Coast while Peaty was in Australia on his annual migration south with his long-time master coach Mel Marshall.

Subtlety-Cook is always on the lookout for new training partners because there are few breaststrokers in his home state of Queensland who can push him to go faster.

He normally trains with Lizzie Dekkers and Laura Taylor, Australia’s leading 200m female butterfly specialists, because their times are similar to his, but Peaty offered a rare chance to learn something new.

Zac Stubblety-Cook has dominated the 200m breastroke. Picture: Ben Stansall / AFP

Not only is the Englishman the best 100m breaststroker in history, he’s also renowned for being one of the hardest trainers and toughest competitors.

After training alongside him, Stubblety-Cook said he can vouch that Peaty’s reputation is warranted.

“He is very relentless in his mentality and you can feed into it however you want,” Stubblety-Cook said.

“But the confidence he has is second to none. He believes in himself and his ability, and rightfully so, as we’ve seen time and time again.”

For Stubblety-Cook, the timing was perfect. He is currently in Fukuoka, Japan preparing to defend his 200m world title, with the heats and semis scheduled for Thursday and the final on Friday.

It’s no easy task, even for a swimmer who has quickly taken ownership of the event.

In the space of 12 months from mid-2021 to mid-2022, Stubblety-Cook won the Olympic gold medal, the world championship, the Commonwealth Games gold medal and broke the world record.

Adam Peaty has enormous self belief. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Still just 24, he has nothing left to prove, but doesn’t want to be another flash in the pan, which is again where Peaty comes in.

The Englishman also ticked everything on his bucket list at a young age but has found new ways to motivate himself, and has since won multiple world and Olympic titles and lowered his own world record.

Now Stubblety-Cook wants to do the same, believing there were no limits to what he could achieve after witnessing first-hand how hard Peaty pushes himself.

“I definitely took that off him,” the Australian said,

“And I’ve seen it with other athletes as well, not just him, it is that relentless obsessive pursuit of what they want to achieve.

“I think there‘s more in it, that’s the honest answer. I think I get more out of myself.

“So I‘m excited for the next couple of years to get the best out of myself. I wouldn’t be swimming with those achievements if I didn’t think there was more to give.”