FLASH! Noè Ponti Crushes 50m Butterfly S/C World Record
Noè Ponti lowered the 50m butterfly short-course world record to 21.67 in prelims on day three of the World Cup in Shanghai.
The Swiss reached the turn in 9.95 secs before a blistering 11.72sec second 25 propelled him into the wall in a new global standard.
He took 0.08secs off the 21.75 record held jointly by Nicholas Santos of Brazil and Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary.
Ponti also shaved 0.12 off his personal best of 21.79 set en-route to gold at the 2023 European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania.
It follows the 23-year-old’s European record of 48.40 in the 100m butterfly on the opening night of the World Cup 2024 tour making it the third continental standard of the meet so far following Leon Marchand’s 200IM mark of 1:50.30 on Saturday.
Nyls Korstanje became the first Netherlands swimmer to go inside 22secs in 21.96 as he qualified second for Sunday’s final.
Ponti was thrilled, saying: “What can I say? World record (in the) 50 fly in the morning, first competition of the season.
“I didn’t expect it, and I couldn’t be happier. After seeing how fast I swam the 100 fly and the 100 IM, I knew that I could get very close to the world record, but breaking it, you never know.
“I am happy that I did it this morning, so now I don’t have to think about it again. The last time I swam this event was in April, a 21.9.
“Last year at the Europeans I missed the world record by .04 of a second.
“I am going to think about one leg at a time, we don’t know what’s going to happen in Seoul and Singapore.”
- Link to results
- Noè Ponti Almost Lost For Words After Lowering European 100 Fly S/C Record: Third-Fastest All-Time
- Noè Ponti Looks Ahead To “A Great Battle” In Paris Amid Golden Age Of 100 Fly Swimming
- Noè Ponti Fires Off 50.16 In 100 Fly: Goes Sixth All-Time
- Sarah Sjöström and Noè Ponti Voted Top Swimmers At 2023 European Aquatics Awards