He may be Olympic champion and a world record-holder but Zac Stubblety-Cook is still looking to learn from the best in British breaststroke great Adam Peaty.
Stubblety-Cook cruised to victory in the 200 metres breaststroke in the Australian trials for next month's world championships in Fukuoka, finishing more than five seconds clear of his nearest rival in Melbourne.
The 24-year-old Queenslander will defend his world title and look to hold on to the world record he set at last year's national titles.
Due to a foot fracture, Peaty missed last year's world championships in Budapest where he was aiming for a historic 'quadruple double' of world breaststroke titles, having won the 50m and 100m crowns in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
He doesn't compete over 200m.
Stubblety-Cook said he jumped at the chance to train earlier this year with three-time Olympic gold medallist Peaty, who was on the Gold Coast with a British team taking part in a training camp under head coach Mel Marshall.
"I've tried to mix it up and at the start of this year I trained with Adam Peaty for about three weeks," Stubblety-Cook said.
"It was really good to train with Adam and have that contrast at training. Mel being such a good coach, I learnt lot."
Stubblety-Cook said Peaty had his measure over 100m but he got the better of the Brit over the longer distance.
"It definitely gave me a bit more drive," he said.
"Last year was such an intense year and coming off the back of that you try and find your groove again and that really helped me."
A quiet achiever who doesn't receive the same spotlight as bona fide stars such as Emma McKeon or Kyle Chalmers, Stubblety-Cook said Peaty set an example with his self-belief and work ethic.
"He's very relentless in his mentality and the confidence he has is second to none - he believes in himself and his ability and rightfully so," the young Australian said.
"He works harder than everyone else, he was obsessive to that point, and I definitely took that off him ... and I've seen it with other athletes as well, it is that relentless, obsessive pursuit of what they want to achieve."
