Adam Ramsay-peaty has won 32 major gold medals across his glittering career. Now an 18-year-old swimmer he helped train is catching up — and pushing him to go even further.
On Saturday evening in Glasgow, Ramsay-peaty will face Filip Nowacki in the 100-meter breaststroke final at the Commonwealth Games. It is master against apprentice, generation meeting generation. But this is no ordinary rivalry. Nowacki trains under Ramsay-peaty himself, in a program called AP Race that the 31-year-old champion set up to develop the next generation of swimmers.
"Adam is a true role model in the sport," Nowacki said. "I grew up watching him race at Rio, Tokyo and Paris." When Ramsay-peaty won Olympic gold in Rio in 2016, Nowacki was only 8 years old, still learning to swim on the Channel Island of Jersey under coach Nathan Jegou.
Last year, Nowacki did something remarkable — he broke Ramsay-peaty's 100-meter junior British record. The student had begun surpassing the teacher's youth times.
Yet in Friday's semi-finals, Ramsay-peaty showed he has no intention of handing over his crown quietly. Swimming in lanes four and five, side by side, the veteran built an early lead and held off his young rival down the second length. When asked if he believed he could win, Nowacki laughed and said, "Course I do. No, I wish, I'm gonna give it my best shot."
Ramsay-peaty, all chest and tattooed muscle, towered over his young competitor afterward. You might think they competed in different sports. But they do — just in a race that means something to both of them.
For Nowacki, a medal would make history. Jersey has not won a Commonwealth Games medal in 36 years. Their only gold ever was earned decades ago. A strong finish from the young swimmer would mark the end of that long drought.
For Ramsay-peaty, this race is about more than one more gold. After winning silver at the Paris Olympics, he went through what he called a "self-destructive spiral" linked to mental health struggles, even considering whether to keep swimming. The Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 was his last time standing on top of a major podium.
Now, with the Los Angeles Olympics two years away, Ramsay-peaty has found something new to drive him. "It is going to be a good scrap, especially down that last 25 meters, and I do love a good scrap," he said. He would never go quietly — not now, not against a swimmer he helped raise.
The final is set for shortly after 9 PM local time on Saturday. Two swimmers, one pool, and a question that only the race itself can answer: can the apprentice finally catch the master?