(Swimming news) Italy’s Thomas Ceccon has broken the 100m backstroke world record at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, taking victory in 51.60 seconds, 0.25secs better than Ryan Murphy's previous record which was set in 2016. Four time Olympic gold medallist Murphy from the USA received the silver medal while Hunter Armstrong was third. British Olympic champion Tom Dean received the bronze medal in the 200m freestyle category.
17 year old Romanian teenager David Popovici broke the world junior record he set in qualifying by winning the gold medal while 19 year old South Korean Hwang Sun-woo won the silver medal. However, it was Thomas Ceccon who enjoyed the centre stage and the Italian said in an interview “I have no words, there was an Olympic champion in 2016 (Murphy) and other strong people in the field, I'm pretty happy. I didn't think of any record or time before the start, I just swam my own race. For me, it's simply unbelievable.”
Italy had a good time at the World Championships as 17-year-old Benedetta Pilato also won the gold medal in the women's 100m breaststroke. She defeated Germany’s Anna Elendt by just 0.05secs, becoming the first Italian to win the world title while Lithuania's 2012 Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte was third. In an emotional post race interview, Pilato said “I'm super happy, it was my dream and it came true tonight.”
In other results, American swimmer Katie Ledecky, 25, claimed her second gold medal by winning the women's 1,500m freestyle after securing gold at women's 400m freestyle on the opening day. Britain's Freya Anderson, 21, achieved her personal best of 1:56.05 seconds to qualify fastest for the women's 200m freestyle final. She said “It's a big confidence boost, I've been struggling to get down to a 1:56-low, so I'll take it – but there's always ways to do better."
Also read: Apeksha Fernandes breaks long-standing record in 200m butterfly
