Roland Schoeman became the first man to dip under 21 seconds as he shattered the world short-course record in the 50m freestyle at an invitational meeting in Hamburg on Saturday.
The triple Olympic medallist swam a blistering 20,98 seconds in the morning heats, bettering the previous mark of 21,10 set by Frenchman Fred Bousquet in East Meadow, United States in March 2004.
”Roland does it again, what more can I say?” said a thrilled Shaun Adriaanse, Chief Operating Officer at Swimming South Africa.
”He didn’t come to our annual awards function to concentrate on training and that seems to have paid off. We’ll just have to see if he can go even faster in the final,” he added.
After this meet comes to an end on Sunday, Schoeman will travel from Hamburg to Victoria in Canada on Monday where he will be competing in the Pan Pacific Championships from August 17 to 20.
The 26-year-old US-based swimmer also shares the world short-course record for the 100m freestyle with American Ian Crocker as well as holding the long course 50m butterfly record and the 4x100m freestyle relay record along with compatriots Ryk Neethling, Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend. — Sapa