Michael Andrew Rebreaks Junior World Record With 26.39 In SC 50 Breast

2016 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 6th – December 11th, 2016
• Windsor, Ontario, Canada
• WFCU Centre
• SCM (25m)
• Prelims: 9:30 AM EST/Finals: 6:30 PM EST
• Start Lists/Results
• Live Stream ($)

Michael Andrew continues to make his mark on the international scene at the 2016 Short Course World Championships, breaking the world junior record in the 50 breaststroke for the second time in a day at Saturday night’s semifinals.

Andrew, still 17 years old, first officially set the record in heats this morning, going 26.56 while qualifying 7th. The previous record was a 26.67 from Turkey’s Heseyin Sakci almost exactly a year ago.

Tonight’s swim was good news/bad news for Andrew, who actually faded to 9th and missed the final, but did lower the junior world record for the second time in a day. His 26.39 was just a tenth out of 8th place, but constituted a drop of almost two tenths from his prelims swim. He’ll be the first alternate for the final unless another swimmer scratches out.

The 50 breast is one of only a few short course junior world records that have actually been set since FINA started tracking world records for 18-and-unders. The rest are FINA benchmark times, which an athlete has to better in order to officially “set” the record.

This stands up as Andrew’s second junior world record, going along with his long course 200 IM mark, which he shares with Gunnar Bentz.