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ROME, Italy, July 26. ERIC Shanteau of the U.S. gave Kosuke Kitajima's world record a serious run in the men's 100 breast semifinals at the FINA World Championships.
Shanteau, who just missed Kitajima's global mark of 58.91, turned in a scorching 58.96 for the top seed in the final heat tomorrow. The performance moved him into the 58 club, and cleared Mark Gangloff's American record of 59.01 set at the U.S. World Championships Trials earlier this month.
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh finished second in 59.13, while Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr qualified third in 59.15.
Australia's Brenton Rickard (59.27), Ukraine's Igor Borysik (59.39), Lithuania's Giedruis Titenis (59.43), France's Hugues Duboscq (59.46) and Brazil's Henrique Barbosa (59.60) grabbed the rest of the transfer spots into finals.
Notably, every semifinal swimmer broke the 1:00 barrier.