Tokyo Olympics gold medallist swimmer Hunter Armstrong has created a new world record in 50m backstroke at the ongoing US International Team Trials and in the process has clinched entry to the upcoming 2022 World Aquatics Championships set to take place in June in Budapest.
Hunter Armstrong clocks 23.71 seconds, edging out the previous record by 0.09 seconds
After setting a new Americas, USA, and US Open records in the 50 meter backstroke with a time of 24.01 in the prelims heats, Armstrong advanced to the finals ranking first and clocked a time of 23.71 seconds, superseding the previous world record by 0.09 seconds, which was set by Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov, who set the record at 23.80 last year in May.
🚨NEW WORLD RECOOOOOOORD 🚨
🇺🇸 Hunter Armstrong claimed the World Record in the 50m Backstroke in ⏱ 23.71 at the USA International Team Trials @USASwimming #swimming #worldrecord pic.twitter.com/HQqAQMSaaS— FINA (@fina1908) April 29, 2022
“I’m at a loss for words, honestly. It’s something that I’ve always wanted and I’m just … I’m over the moon right now,” Armstrong told Reuters, “I’m so blessed to compete at this meet with the best athletes in the world, and I don’t think I would have been able to do that without racing them.” [H/T Independent.co.uk]
Armstrong has been in tremendous form this year. The 21-year-old, who hails from Dover, Ohio, started off the trials with setting a personal best of 48.55 seconds in the 100m freestyle event on the first day of the 2022 US International Team Trials on 26th April. After qualifying for the finals with sixth rank overally, he shaved off three-tenths from his personal best to clock 48.25 in fourth place.
Last year at the Tokyo Olympics, Armstrong clinched gold in the 4×100 meter medley relay, along with Ryan Murphy, Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, Zach Apple, Blake Pieroni, Tom Shields, and Andrew Wilson. Dressel, a seven-time Olympics champion, won the men’s 100m butterfly event at the trials.
The upcoming World Championships will take place from 18th June to 3rd July and it will be the second time the event takes place in Budapest- five years after it was first held in the Hungarian capital.
Highlights:
- US swimmer Hunter Armstrong, who clinched gold in the 4×100 meter medley relay in the Tokyo Olympics last year, set a new world record in the 50m backstroke at the US Trials
- Armstrong clocked a time of 23.71 at the trials, beating the previous record of Russian swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov
