American swimmer Kate Douglass reclaimed the world record in the 50-meter freestyle on Saturday, clocking a time of 23.49 seconds during the heats of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, California.
اضافة اعلان
Douglass lowered the previous world record of 23.55 seconds, set by her compatriot Gretchen Walsh on June 28 during the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome.
Walsh had snatched the record from Douglass herself, who had set a mark of 23.59 seconds on June 19, before the American swimmer reclaimed the world title less than two months later.
Douglass expressed surprise at her achievement, emphasizing that she still sees room to refine her performance. "I was not expecting that at all. I still think there are aspects I can improve," she stated.
The record-breaking performance came just over 12 hours after Douglass posted the second-fastest time in history for the 100-meter freestyle while swimming the lead-off leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, in which the United States secured victory.
Douglass registered a time of 51.69 seconds in the 100-meter event, missing the world record held by the Netherlands' Marrit Steenbergen by just one-hundredth of a second.
The American swimmer noted that coming so close to the 100-meter record provided extra motivation ahead of the 50-meter event, adding that she has become more composed when handling record attempts compared to her first time achieving the feat.
The 50-meter freestyle final promises a thrilling showdown between Douglass and Walsh, as the latter posted the second-fastest heat time of 23.78 seconds, while Australia's Meg Harris qualified third with a time of 24.22 seconds.
Douglass is also set to compete in another individual final on the closing night of the championship, having qualified second in the 200-meter breaststroke heats behind Japan's Kotomi Kato.
