Alisee Pisane Breaks Oldest Belgian Record (From 1988!) With 8:32.52 800 Free

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Alisee Pisane took down the oldest Belgian swimming records in the books on Friday morning.

The 20-year-old distance specialist shaved more than 11 seconds off her lifetime best during the women’s 800-meter freestyle prelims, clocking a personal-best 8:32.52 that dropped more than two seconds off Isabelle Arnould‘s previous national standard (8:34.56) from her 7th-place finish at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. That mark had stood untouched for nearly 35 years until Pisane came along. The oldest Belgian record now belongs to Stefaan Maene, who posted a 1:59.64 200 back at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Pisane’s previous-best time was just 8:44.25 from April’s Belgian Championships. She already owned the Belgian record in the 1500 free (16:22.18), having first broken it at the European Championships last August (16:26.20), as well as short-course marks in the 800 free and 1500 free.

Pisane placed 14th in the women’s 800 free heats, missing the final about 10 seconds behind No. 8 qualifier Jillian Cox (8:22.20). She’s now only about six seconds off the Paris 2024 Olympic cut of 8:26.71. She also placed 18th in the 1500 free (16:25.15) earlier this week.

The result is all the more impressive considering Pisane recently said she had a big knee injury at the beginning of May that prevented her from resuming normal training until the beginning of July.