Rebecca Meder shattered the long-standing 200m individual medley African record at the world short-course championships in Budapest on Tuesday night, clocking 2min 05.61sec as she touched sixth.
In the heats the 22-year-old posted a 2:06.15 national record, just two-hundredths short of the continental mark set by Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry in 2008.
But in the final she pushed hard to smash the 16-year-old old mark in a fast race where defending champion Kate Douglas — the American who dethroned Tatjana Smith as Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in Paris — won in a 2:01.63 world record.
US-based Ruard van Renen, who finished fourth overall in the men’s 100m backstroke morning heats, finished fourth in the first evening semifinal, clocking an impressive 49.89 personal best to book his spot in the final on Wednesday.
He was sixth fastest overall behind local hero Hubert Kos in 49.03.
Veteran Chad Le Clos was unable to advance beyond the heats of the 50m butterfly, his 22.67 placing him only 22nd overall.
The event isn’t his speciality, but he had taken four medals in the past, from 2012 to 2018, including two gold. His heat time on Tuesday was quicker than three of his morning times when he reached the podium.