Adam Peaty: BBC Sports Personality 2017 contender

We are showcasing each of the 12 contenders in the run-up to the Sports Personality of the Year award on 17 December. Today - Adam Peaty.

Age: 22 Sport: Swimming

Year in a nutshell

Won two world titles and broke his own world record twice in one day at the World Aquatic Championships in Hungary in July.

The Olympic champion retained his 50m and 100m breaststroke titles in Budapest.

Boasting the 10 fastest times in history in the 100m breaststroke, the Staffordshire swimmer beat his own 50m world record once in the world heats and again in the semi-finals - clocking 25.95 seconds to become the first person to break 26 seconds.

Rebecca Adlington, double 2008 Olympic swimming champion, on Adam Peaty:

"I've never known an athlete be so consistent and so dominant.

"Usually in sprint events it's a fingernail between first and eighth, it's so close. The fact Adam dominates by half a body length to a body length in the 100m is absolutely ridiculous.

"To see him shocked by his own performances shows that kind of grounded, real, good-hearted person that loves his sport. Adam is just so special in every single way. You can't replicate Adam. He's created a new mould that everyone wants to copy."

How did he get here?

From a phobia to a record-breaker - Peaty was once so afraid of water his mother struggled to bathe him but he was selected to trial for a swimming club after taking part in a school gala.

Mum Caroline travelled the country with him as he progressed through open meets, county, Midland, national and British Championships.

He rose to wider prominence in 2014, taking two golds at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He has also won eight European and three world titles.

At Rio 2016, his 100m breaststroke gold was the first for a British male swimmer since Adrian Moorhouse 26 years earlier.

What he said after second world record in a day: "I honestly can't believe it. I can't even think. I just went out there and did what I do."

What you say

Tom Alex Evans: Adam Peaty deserves to be right up there for this year's #SPOTY. The 10 fastest 100m breaststroke times in history. Unbelievably talented.

Stephen Howell: Much-deserved nomination. Good luck to Britain's greatest swimmer.

Teri: Vote for this chap - Adam Peaty is incredible. One of a kind.

Sports Personality record: 2016, 11th; 2015, 11th; 2014, 10th. Two swimmers have been BBC Sports Personality of the Year - Ian Black (1958) and Anita Lonsbrough (1962). Rebecca Adlington was third in 2008.

Get Inspired

Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK use swimming as a way to keep fit, relax and have fun.

To find out more on how to get into swimming, visit the Get Inspired website.

This article was originally published on 6 December, 2017.