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ROME, Italy, July 29. CHINA's Zhang Lin demolished Grant Hackett's world record in the men's 800 free at the FINA World Championships.
Zhang clocked a stunning time of 7:32.12 to erase Hackett's time of 7:38.65. Tunisia's Ous Mellouli also cleared Hackett's former standard with a silver-winning time of 7:35.27. Zhang had an astonishing final 50 of 25.99 down the stretch.
Here are the comparative splits:
Zhang: 26.94, 55.20 (28.26), 1:24.04 (28.84), 1:52.55 (28.51), 2:21.16 (28.61), 2:49.87 (28.71), 3:18.58 (28.71), 3:46.79 (28.21), 4:15.02 (28.23), 4:43.28 (28.26), 5:11.79 (28.51), 5:40.36 (28.57), 6:09.26 (28.90), 6:38.03 (28.77), 7:06.13 (28.10), 7:32.12 (25.99)
Mellouli: 26.62, 55.11 (28.49), 1:23.76 (28.65), 1:52.36 (28.60), 2:21.18 (28.82), 2:50.39 (29.21), 3:19.23 (28.84), 3:47.95 (28.72), 4:16.37 (28.42), 4:44.66 (28.29), 5:12.95 (28.29), 5:41.19 (28.24), 6:09.63 (28.44), 6:38.30 (28.67), 7:06.59 (28.29), 7:35.27 (28.68)
Hackett: 25.99, 54.38 (28.39), 1:23.13 (28.75), 1:51.89 (28.76), 2:20.60 (28.71), 2:49.49 (28.89), 3:18.32 (28.83), 3:47.17 (28.85), 4:16.06 (28.89), 4:45.03 (28.97), 5:14.21 (29.18), 5:43.55 (29.34), 6:12.78 (29.23), 6:42.11 (29.33), 7:10.44 (28.33), 7:38.65 (28.21)
Canada's Ryan Cochrane completed the podium with a bronze-winning time of 7:41.92. Italy's Federico Colbertaldo (7:43.84), Great Britain's David Davies (7:44.32), the United States' Peter Vanderkaay (7:48.44), Spain's Marco Rivera (7:49.46) and Russia's Yuriy Prilukov (7:49.46) completed the finale.