Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Sport
Peter Rutherford

Americans Dressel, Smith set world records

Swimming - 18th FINA World Swimming Championships - Men's 100m Butterfly Semifinals - Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, South Korea - July 26, 2019. Caeleb Dressel of the U.S. competes. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

GWANGJU, South Korea (Reuters) - Americans Caeleb Dressel and Regan Smith set world records in the semi-finals of the men's 100 metres butterfly and women's 200 backstroke at the world championships in Gwangju on Friday.

Dressel's new mark of 49.50 seconds shaved 0.32 seconds off Michael Phelps' 49.82 set at the 2009 worlds in Rome. The sprinter, who already has three gold medals in Gwangju, is set to swim in the 50 freestyle semis later on Friday.

Swimming - 18th FINA World Swimming Championships - Women's 200m Backstroke Semi-Finals - Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, South Korea - July 26, 2019. Regan Smith of the U.S. competes. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Smith, 17, then gave the United States its second record of the evening when she swam 2:03.35 to take 0.71 seconds off compatriot Missy Franklin's mark set at the 2012 London Olympics.

(Editing by Toby Davis)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.