Swimming madness as Johannes Liebmann drops jaws on day of world report insanity

The German blew up the earlier report by virtually 4 seconds on the European championships in Paris on Sunday (AEST).

The 19-year-old clocked a time of 14 minutes 26.79 seconds, 3.88sec sooner than the earlier report set by American Bobby Finke on the 2024 Olympics.

He is the primary swimmer in historical past to go underneath the 14.30 mark.

On a day of swimming insanity, Kate Douglass additionally broke the ladies’s 50m freestyle world report in the course of the day session of the Pan Pacific Championships in California.

The day belonged to Liebmann, nonetheless, together with his swim blowing the minds of swimming commentators.

American swimming commentator Kyle Sockwell posted on X: “One of the greatest swims in the history of this sport. In the history of this planet. In the history of the existence of water.

“What on earth did Johannes Liebmann just do?!?!”

He additionally posted: “This is incredible”.

Liebmann was greater than 4.5 seconds forward of the world report tempo mid-way by the race.

Hungary’s Zalan Sarkany and German Oliver Klemet rounded off the rostrum, over 12sec adrift of Liebmann.

Liebmann already broke a continental report this Euros when he claimed 800m freestyle gold on Wednesday.

Elsewhere on the Euros, French four-time Olympic gold medallist Leon Marchand gained the 200m butterfly closing.

There was additionally unimaginable scenes in Irvine, California, when Douglass surprised commentators to set a brand new world benchmark within the 50m freestyle.

Her time of 23.49 seconds within the heats units up a spicy showdown with former record-holder Gretchen Walsh.

Douglass improved on the world mark of 23.55sec that fellow-American Walsh set on June 28 on the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome.

Walsh’s mark had improved on the world report of 23.59 that Douglass herself had set on June 19 — and Douglass mentioned that she believed she may nonetheless enhance technically.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting that,” Douglass advised Swimming World journal.

“I still think there are things I could clean up.”

Douglass’s spectacular efficiency got here little greater than 12 hours after she delivered the second-fastest 100m freestyle in historical past swimming the lead-off leg on the United States’s victorious 4x100m free relay.

She touched the wall in 51.69sec — one one-hundredth outdoors the 100m free world report set by Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands in June.

“I think barely missing a world record last night kind of fuelled me a little bit, and I know I wanted to go in and break the world record today — and I did it this morning,” Douglass mentioned.

“I am more rested than when I broke the world record the first time, and I have been amped up.” Sunday’s 50m free closing guarantees fireworks.

Walsh, swimming within the final warmth after Douglass broke her report, touched in 23.78, the second-quickest of the morning.

Australian Meg Harris, who ran down Walsh to win the 100m free on Thursday, was third-fastest in 24.22.

— with AFP