Farida Osman of Egypt broke the African Record in the 50 fly for the second time this week in tonight’s finals at the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Her fifth-place time of 25.78 was 0.10 seconds faster than her time from yesterday’s semi-final, which also broke the African Record. Osman has broken this record several times now, including record-setting swims at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, and this summer at the Santa Clara stop of Arena Pro Series.
On the first day of the swimming competition this week, Osman tied with Rachael Kelly of Great Britain for 16th in the preliminaries of the 100 fly, then lost the swim-off that morning by a margin of only 0.05, narrowly missing the semi-finals. She also missed out on advancing out of this morning’s preliminary round of the 50 free, despite swimming what appears to be a personal best time of 25.22.
Earlier this year, Osman was a key part of the Cal Bears’ NCAA Division I swimming title, earning 4th place finishes in the 50 free and 100 fly, as well as picking up seventh in the 100 free on the final day. She also anchored Cal’s winning 200 free and 200 medley relays. She swam alongside several other teammates on those relays who are competing in Kazan this week, including Rachel Bootsma and Missy Franklin of the United States, and Marina Garcia of Spain.