Adam Peaty Sets World Record in 100M Breaststroke at 2016 Rio Games

Great Britain’s Adam Peaty took home the gold medal in dramatic fashion during the men’s 100-meter breaststroke final at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

Peaty turned in a blistering time of 57.13 seconds, which was good enough to set a new world record.

NBC Olympics captured the swimmer in action:

According to the Rio Games' official Twitter account, Peaty broke his own world record, which he set during the qualifying rounds Saturday.

Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa won the silver medal, while American Cody Miller earned the bronze. According to Indiana University Swim and Dive, Miller’s time of 58.87 seconds set the American record Sunday.

Rachel Lutz of NBCOlympics.com said Peaty’s 1.56-second advantage over the rest of the field marked the largest margin of victory in the history of the event. In fact, it was a bigger margin than Van der Burgh enjoyed over the last-place finisher, Dmitriy Balandin:

Place	Swimmer	Time (seconds)
1	Adam Peaty (Great Britain)	57.13
2	Cameron van der Burgh (South Africa)	58.69
3	Cody Miller (United States)	58.87
4	Kevin Cordes (United States)	59.22
5	Joao Gomes (Brazil)	59.31
6	Yasuhiro Koseki (Japan)	59.37
7	Felipe Franca (Brazil)	59.38
8	Dmitriy Balandin (Kazakhstan)	59.95

Peaty didn’t just obliterate his competition and set the world record. He also captured the first gold medal for his country during the Rio Games:

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports called the performance “insane” and noted Peaty’s reaction time was “.57 off [the] start.” It was clear who the best swimmer was Sunday from the opening moments of the race, and the rest of the field was essentially competing for the silver and bronze medals. 

Great Britain's Olympic Team shared just how impressive of a night it was for Peaty:

As for Van der Burgh, he won the silver medal after taking home the gold in the same event during the 2012 Olympics in London. Bronze medalist Miller raced in his first Olympics and impressed despite the fact he suffers from a chest condition called Pectus Excavatum that reduces his lung capacity from 12-20 percent, per his NBCOlympics.com profile.

Miller, who won a national title in the 100-meter breaststroke, also has asthma. In light of those conditions, it was an even more admirable performance on Sunday.

However, nobody could keep up with Peaty and his world record in Rio.