David Morgan, a 2016 Australian Olympian and five-time World Championship medalist, has just added another achievement to his swimming career. However, this one will not be highlighted by a medal, but rather a spot as the all-time fastest 30-34 short course 100 butterflyer in Masters Swimming history.
Morgan raced the event at a meet at the Sleeman Aquatic Center in Queensland, where he would surge to a final time of 51.26, well over a full second faster than former AQUA Masters World Record holder Bruno Kenji Ozeki of Japan, who in April of 2025 set the now-former all-time standard in 52.36.
This was not the first time that Morgan had gotten a taste of a masters world record, as back in April, as a part of the Barbarian Masters men’s 4x50m free relay for the 120-158 age category, he and his stacked foursome would take down the AQUA Masters World Record in 1:28.22, a relay in which he split 22.37. Also on that relay were current men’s 50 free (LCM) World Record holder Cam McEvoy (20.33), Grayson Bell (21.65), and Pedro Goidanich (23.87).
That swim also took place in the Sleeman Aquatic Center. It downed the former record mark from Japan’s relay of Yuki Joho, Koki Shida, Kenta Nakatsuka, and Kazuki Suzuki from April of 2025 in 1:29.88.
During his competitive career, Morgan’s best short course 100 fly came at the World Championships in 2016, where he won bronze in 49.31 when he was 22-years-old. At the time, that was the fastest ever performance from an Australian; that standard has since been lowered to 48.62 by Matthew Temple in 2023.
