The Frenchman Florent Manaudou set his second world record in as many events in Doha, Qatar. Among a flurry of other records during the finals session, Manaudou smashed the old 50 backstroke record of 22.61 with his 22.22 performance.
The old record belonged to Peter Marshall of the United States, and was a super-suit era record. Manaudou crushed the record by a margin of .39, much bigger. than the .04 margin he set the 50 free world record in. Manaudou specializes in the 50 freestyle, but as pointed out when he broke the 50 free record, uses big time starts and turns to be a major international factor in the 50s of other strokes.
This marks Manaudou’s third gold medal of the championships. He also set a world record in the 50 freestyle last night for a gold medal and was the French hero on the 4×100 free relay that won gold on day 1.
He will also compete in the individual 100 freestyle, with finals on Sunday.
I was expecting a WR, but not by this margin!!! Unbelievable!. The world record was already tough, now it’s even tougher!