Great Britain's Adam Peaty has set a new world record of 26.62 seconds in the 50-metre breaststroke at the European Championships before revealing he hated swimming when he was a child.
The 19-year-old took 0.05 seconds off Cameron van der Burgh's world record from the 2009 World Championships when the performance-enhancing supersuits era was at its peak.
It is a far cry from the little boy who was so scared of water he would not go in the bath or the shower.
As for swimming, he admitted: "I hated the pool."
He overcame his fears and the last weeks have been a fairytale - although a well-deserved one - for the Englishman who claimed two golds and one silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
His coach Mel Marshall - winner of world, European and Commonwealth medals - gave him four days off after his exertions in Scotland.
But Peaty texted her asking if he could return to training early in order to prepare for the Europeans.
He came to Berlin where he won the 100m breaststroke and was part of the Great Britain mixed medley relay squad that set a new world record on the same evening on Friday.
His world record came in the second semi-final prompting a look of disbelief from the teenager who sat on the lane rope blinking as he absorbed the information on the scoreboard.
However, he knows he still has hard work to do on Saturday with the final to come.
He said: "I feel absolutely amazing. I had to look at that scoreboard about five times before I knew I had broken it.
"I haven't got any words for it. I haven't broken a world record before so I don't know how it feels.
"I didn't expect this result even if I was close to the world record at the Commonwealth Games," Peaty said.
"It was not a perfect race due to my final touch so I can still improve tomorrow."
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