SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, February 19. AFTER clocking a Russian record time of 1:00.09 in the 100 back in prelims at a meet in Russia yesterday, Anastasia Zueva broke the minute barrier during finals today according to a report by the Russian Swimming Federation.
A day after breaking Nina Zhivanevskaya's national standard of 1:00.83 set way back on Sept. 7, 1994 in Rome, Zueva cleared Laure Manaudou's European standard of 59.87 set at the 2007 World Championships.
Zueva ripped off a time of 59.64 to become the third-fastest swimmer ever in the event behind Natalie Coughlin's newly-minted global standard of 59.21 and Kirsty Coventry's fresh African standard of 59.47. Zueva had plenty of open water as she defeated Xenia Moskvinia (1:02.36) and Mary Nikitin (1:02.42) in the swim.
Overall, the 59 club now has four members as the minute-barrier is being broken at an ever-growing rate.