SINGAPORE, November 5. AFTER South Africa’s Chad Le Clos obviously took it easy this morning to do just enough to get into the finale at the FINA World Cup in Singapore, he blasted right through the 1:49 barrier to clinch another $10,000 with a world record in the distance fly event.
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Le Clos dominated the swim from start-to-finish, opening up nearly half-a-second under his world record pace from the Eindhoven stop, and he never stopped as he closed out the swim with a blazing 1:48.56 for the new global standard.
Comparative splits:
Singapore: 24.68, 52.96 (28.28), 1:20.81 (27.85), 1:48.56 (27.75)
Eindhoven: 24.88, 53.45 (28.57), 1:21.31 (27.86), 1:49.04 (27.73)
Le Clos sacrificed a bigger schedule to make sure he took care of the 1:49 barrier here in Singapore as he continues to battle for overall FINA World Cup points. Tonight’s world record definitely helped him along in that capacity.
Le Clos was swimming in lonely water with Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski a distant second in 1:53.59. Japan’s Yuki Kobori took third-place in the finale with a 1:55.39.
Japan’s Ko Fukaya (1:56.20), Australia’s Mitchell Pratt (1:56.60), Brazil’s Lucas Salatta (1:56.61), Great Britain’s Roberto Pavoni (1:57.01) and Brazil’s Luiz Ribeiro Pereira (1:58.99) also competed in the history championship heat.