Turkish swimmer Sakci breaks world record

ANKARA

Turkish swimmer Emre Sakci on Monday broke a world record in the breaststroke short course.

Sakci took the new world record with a time of 24.95 seconds in the men's 50-meter breaststroke short course in the Turkish Championships at Sehit Kamil Arena, Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey.

The previous record in the men's 50m breaststroke short course was shared between two athletes – South African Cameron van der Burgh and Belarusian Ilya Shymanovich – both with 25.25 seconds.

Van der Burgh took the previous record in the 2009 FINA Swimming World Cup in Berlin, while this November Shymanovich made exactly the same time in the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Russia.

Sakci, 24, previously won the silver medal in the 2019 European Short Course Championship in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 25.82 seconds.

He is the only Turkish swimmer ever to break a European record in any stroke that is not in the junior category, as in October 2020 during the 2020 ISL (International Swimming League), he captured the short-course European record in 50m breaststroke with a time of 25.50 seconds.