The stratospheric standards Adam Peaty holds himself to were etched on his face after he obliterated the competition to claim Commonwealth gold in the 100m breaststroke. There was barely a flicker of a smile before the winning time of 58.84sec flashed on the scoreboard. Hoisting his enormous frame from the water, he wore a nonplussed expression for TV cameras expecting to capture a moment of unrestrained celebration.

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“They asked me why I didn’t look happy,” he said. “It’s because I wasn’t satisfied with my performance. At the touch you go, ‘Oh my god, I’ve won gold’, but I look at the time and go, ‘That’s not the best version of myself.’ I’m obsessed with self-improvement.”

Peaty does not just want to win, he wants to win like nobody has before, later proclaiming his belief that he can go a lifetime undefeated, possibly until the Los Angeles Olympics in 2024. Before this event he had spoken about Project 56, a mission heavily marketed by his PR team, to improve on his own world record of 57.13sec achieved at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Realistically, it is more likely that he will surpass that mark at a summer meet, when swimmers typically aim to peak. But he admitted the conversation had become a distraction.

“I was maybe taking too many strokes and thinking too much of the time instead of the process,” he said. “Coming back to what made me so good in Rio was that I was focusing on the process and not the time.”

The 23-year-old conceded that victory on the Gold Coast neatly completed the circle four years after he became Commonwealth champion in Glasgow, which represented a major breakthrough at senior level. Since then he has amassed 26 titles, including becoming European, world and Olympic champion.

“Even though it’s a gold medal and it’s four years undefeated and that has completed the quad, I’m disappointed,” he said. “I was nowhere my best.”

The Optics Aquatics Centre is the most eye-catching of venues, an outdoor pool with a sold-out crowd of 10,000 in stands bordered on one side by city skyscrapers and on the other by the coral sea. Beneath the floodlights, Peaty beat both shoulders with his fists on the dive blocks.

At 50m he was just outside world-record pace but tired in the final 30m. Such is his dominance over the rest of the field, victory was never in doubt. Peaty’s English team‑mate James Wilby took silver in 59.43, the thickness of a swimcap ahead of South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh in 59.44.

“It’s been a big learning curve here,” Peaty said. “My stroke feels nowhere near where it should feel like, so I think we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and see how we improve. I think that’s the first time ever where I didn’t feel in control of my race and let the event get to me. I was thinking of the end result rather than the process.”

Peaty is so far ahead of the rest he admitted the struggle was keeping himself mentally engaged enough to continue with endless daily sessions in the pool and one of the most punishing strength and conditioning regimes in sport. “The more worrying thing for me is how can I keep the sport new,” he said. “How can I keep my motivation now? That’s going to be my next challenge.”

More immediately is the final of the 50m freestyle on Sunday evening. Asked whether Peaty was unbeatable, Wilby said, almost hopefully: “He’s only human so you have to believe he can be beaten.”

As if to prove there was some hint of the mere mortal within him, Peaty said he would allow himself a modest celebration after he finishes competing here. “A few beers are in order at the moment, just to keep my sanity,” he said.