Coetze breaks men's 50m backstroke short-course world record

TASHKENT: South Africa's Pieter Coetze set a 50m backstroke short-course world record on Friday with a time of 22.09 seconds at a World Aquatics World Cup meet in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The previous record of 22.11 was set by Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov in Kazan in 2022.

Kolesnikov also holds the long-course record of 23.55.

The record was a career first for 100m backstroke world champion Coetze, 22, after coming close to breaking the 100m world record at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last July.

"Seeing that time on the board, it didn't even click that it was a world record," said the South African. "And then, like, a second later, I was like…'the world record was 22.1.' So…not many words to describe that. It's crazy."

Kolesnikov was also in Friday's race but finished sixth in 22.88, with compatriot Egor Kornev – who tied Australian Kyle Chalmers' 2021 100m freestyle shortcourse world record of 44.84 in Baku last week – second in 22.29 after mis-timing his finish.

"I don't think it changes much," Coetze said of his record. "My mindset normally stays the same, no matter what the race is, because at this level everyone is always close. The world-record holder was there, and look how close it was. So, no, you can never get too comfortable."

The 50m backstroke will be making its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Kornev again won the 100m freestyle final, this time hitting the wall in the same time of 45.24 as Australian Cameron McEvoy despite a back injury.

"I think he's going to go insanely fast in two months' time," said McEvoy of his rival.

"This is just a warm-up for Egor. So I'm happy I can fight with him and be a good foe right now, but I believe that, in two months' time, he's going to drop something pretty special."

The short-course world championships are in Beijing from December 1-6. - Reuters