He’s the fastest man in water.
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy has broken the longstanding 50m freestyle world record, one of swimming’s oldest records dating back to the supersuit era.
Racing at the China Open on Friday night, McEvoy completed the one-lap dash in a time of 20.88sec, breaking Cesar Cielo’s record of 20.91sec set at the infamous 2009 world championships.
McEvoy won the race by a body length and dipped under the magical 21-second barrier, lowering his previous personal best of 21.06sec.
The USA’s Jack Alexy finished second in 21.57 and fellow Australian Kyle Chalmers was third in 22.01.
Cielo gave a classy tribute to McEvoy shortly after his record was broken.
“Congrats, Cam! Lightning fast swim! Incredible!” the Brazilian wrote on social media.
“I saw a phrase a while ago that perfectly captures what you’ve been doing. ‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’ Congratulations!”
Veteran swimming correspondent Ian Hanson wrote on social media: “Power power and more power! What a swim from Cam McEvoy!
“Take a bow … takes down one of swimming’s longest standing world marks- after 17 years and a Supersuit mark to boot! And how special to have his wife and son in the stands! Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy! Believe and you achieve!”
McEvoy has reinvented himself as a swimmer in recent years, bulking up his physique and focusing on speed and strength instead of distance in an effort to transform himself into a 50m freestyle specialist.
The new approach has worked a charm for McEvoy, who has won the past two 50m freestyle world titles and claimed gold in the event at the Paris Olympics — his first individual Olympic medal.
McEvoy’s world record swim comes at an intriguing time for the sport of swimming with several top swimmers opting to participate in May’s Enhanced Games, where performance enhancing drugs are allowed.
McEvoy’s time of 20.88 is 0.01sec faster than the unofficial time set by Kristian Gkolomeev at an Enhanced Games sponsored event last year.
Australia’s James Magnussen and Great Britain’s Benjamin Proud are some of the swimmers competing in the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas.
McEvoy is the only Australian male to currently hold a long course swimming world record, while Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and the Australian women’s freestyle relays hold records in women’s events.
