A third Olympic gold is now all that matters to greedy Adam Peaty, who began the road to Paris with victory in his first major final since Tokyo.
The breaststroke behemoth is back after a five-month break and breezed to a sixth straight British 100m title at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, touching the wall in 58.58.
The time doesn’t even rank within his top 30 of all time but stands as second-fastest in the world this year, behind only the man he beat to gold in Tokyo, Arno Kamminga.
“For me, it's good progression,” said the 27-year-old. “It shows the speed is there, it's a little bit harder to get there.
“But that's a real confidence boost for me because this year, it's more of a comeback than a continuation of what I'm doing.
“It's not continuing over - when you have five months off, you see the likes of Michael Phelps having five months off after the Olympics, it's hard to get back to that stage quickly.”
Having missed the Edinburgh International due to illness, Peaty first dipped his toes in the water at the FFN Golden Tour meet in Marseille last month.
In Sheffield his 100m heat swim of 59.58 was - according to the man himself - ‘ropey’ but was quicker than his 59.83 effort in France and he sliced off a second from heat to final.
Peaty went out in 27.18 and was challenged by James Wilby coming home, with the pair both pre-selected for the June’s World Championships.
The global showpiece has been brought forward by a month and moved from Fukuoka to Budapest, giving Peaty an early-summer staging post.
But it’s clear that the first British man to retain an Olympic swimming title is already focusing on a three-peat, at the exclusion of almost all else.
“We've had the delay in the Worlds, so we can now do it in June,” he said. “I know I can get down to something there if I apply myself right, but I've got nothing to prove now.
“I said over there, this is bonus territory now - I've won everything there is to be won, as humbly as I can say that.
“I’m so grateful to the team around me that keep me in top shape when we can. Obviously you're going to get a bit of illness, a bit of injury.
“But I'm happy with where I'm at. I’m happy with my lifestyle, I'm happy with my training. This year, I've got nothing to prove, it's all about Paris.”
A home Commonwealth Games awaits this summer and Peaty got a kick out of his first major meet in front of fans since 2019.
“It's a good place to be,” he said. “I just want to take as many people on this journey into Paris now as I can.
“I don't think I could've done that tonight without having my family in the crowd, having all these people in the crowd.
“This is what sport is all about, right? It's not about the time on the clock, it's about the winning, showing you can do it when you're not meant to do it and breaking world records when you can do it! It's very simple for me.
“This is what it's about, this is what it's always been about.”
Sportsbeat 2022