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ROME, Italy, July 28. OLEG Lisogor's meet record of 27.46 from 2003 didn't stand a chance in the men's 50 breast qualifying at the FINA World Championships.
In heat 12, Ireland's Barry Murphy clocked a 27.26 to wipe out the record. Australia's Brenton Rickard followed in heat 15 with a 27.15, while South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh rattled Felipe Silva's world record of 26.89 with a top-seeded 26.92. He became only the second man to clear 27 seconds.
Silva checked in with a 27.12 for second, while Rickard's time earned him the third seed. Slovenia's Matjaz Markic captured fourth in 27.19 to clip Emil Tahirovic's national mark of 27.20 from May.
Italy's Alessandro Terrin (27.20), Greece's Dimitrios Xynadas (27.20), Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr (27.25) and Murphy (27.26) made up the top eight. Terrin lowered his national record of 27.22 from earlier this month, while Xynadas crushed his mark of 27.71 from March. Feldwehr broke a two-way tie at 27.30 between he and Johannes Neumann for the German record.
United States' Mark Gangloff (27.27), Neumann (27.27), Tahirovic (27.29), Brazil's Joao Gomes Jr. (27.30), Serbia's Caba Siladji (27.35), Lisogor (27.37), Belarus' Viktor Vabischchevich (27.38) and Japan's Yuki Honda (27.43) comprised the rest of the semifinal field.