Jack Stablety-Cook already has an Olympic gold medal after an exceptional performance at the National Swimming Championships on Thursday night, and the Australian sensation now also has a world record.
Stablety-Cook unveiled a rocketing final lap to win the men’s 200-meter breaststroke final at 2: 05.95 in Adelaide and broke the world mark of 2: 06.12 by Russian Anton Chupkov set in 2019.
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“It’s a bit surreal. It didn’t really sink, maybe in the next few days,” Stable-Cook said.
“I was hoping to swim fast and stay close to my best.
“Of course, I thought about it (breaking the world record) but never thought, ‘That’s it, I want a world record.’ But it happened.”
The Australian has not set a world record in the men’s home pool since 2008, when Eamonn Sullivan twice broke the 50-meter freestyle mark in the Olympic trials before the Beijing Games.
Matt Wilson, who set the world record for the shortest 200m breaststroke in 2019, led the field in the first half of Thursday night’s race, just before the Stable-Cook-powered home.
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“Knowing Matt to swim very fast has always been a bonus. I felt pretty good at 100 meters. I knew I could bring it home very quickly,” said Stablety-Cook.
“It’s pretty special. I’ve always had the goal of being the first person to go at 2:05. I’m much more process-driven than results-driven. It’s a lot more to get your head around.”
Great Australian swimmer Grant Hackett stumbled upon Stable-Cook’s last lap.
“The last 50 were absolutely great,” Hackett said in an Amazon Prime video.
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