KUALA LUMPUR: National swimmer Bryan Leong rewrote his own national record in the 100 metres (m) butterfly event at the World Aquatics Championships, today.
The 20-year-old created the splash by clocking 52.96 seconds (s) in the heats in Fukuoka, Japan, to beat his own record for the second time this year.
In May, Bryan clocked 53.02s at the AP Race London Invitational to erase the 53.32s record he set at Malaysia Games (Sukma), last year.
However, the record-breaking feat in Fukuoka was not enough to earn him a slot into the semi-finals, as only the top 16 from 74 swimmers in the heats advanced.
The UK-based swimmer, who finished second in Heat 4 with the new record, was ranked 35th overall in the heats.
“I could have done better, still not satisfied with the timing. Hope I can do better in the World University Games, next week,” he said when contacted.
In the men’s 50m butterfly event on Sunday, Bryan was placed 53rd overall with 24.54s, which is close to Daniel Bego’s 14-year-old national record of 24.38s set at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Italy.
On Monday, Khiew Hoe Yean cracked the 800m freestyle event national record by clocking 8:05.11s to finish 29th overall, erasing his previous mark of 8:05.38s set in December.
Both Bryan and Hoe Yean will be leaving for Chengdu, China tomorrow for the World University Games, from today till Aug 8. Swimming competition is scheduled from Aug 1-7. –Bernama
