Breeja Larson broke the American and U.S. Open Records in the 50 short course yards breaststroke on Sunday at the AESC Pro-Am, swimming a 26.88. That broke the old record of 27.11, done at this same meet in 2007, by Megan Jendrick.
Poetically, in the men’s race on Sunday, Cody Miller also broke the American Record and the record he broke (held by Mark Gangloff) was set on the same day as Jendrick’s was 7 years ago.
Larson now holds the American Records in both the 50 and 100 yard breaststrokes, though Emma Reaney broke her American Record in the 200 yard race twice this spring to keep Larson from becoming the first to unify the three distances since USA Swimming formally started recognizing them.
On a relay, Larson was as fast as 26.07 last year at the NCAA Championships (the same meet where she went the fastest ever 100 yard breaststroke) with a .18 reaction time. Swimming almost as fast on a flat-start is very impressive.
Same as the “record” on the men’s side. Alia Atkinson was 26.75 in December 2013.
Kasey Carlson split 25.78 (on a relay) at NCAA this year!