2026 Commonwealth Games
- July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming)
- Glasgow, Scotland
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- Prelims: Day 1
You would have been forgiven for wondering if Michael Houlie had his dates wrong and thought he had turned up for the 50 breast at the Commonwealth Games this morning. The South African swimmer, who set a lifetime best of 26.63 in the 50 breast at the 2026 South African Championships, shot out to an early lead in the first of the circle-seeded heats of the men’s 100 breast, touching at the halfway point in a new 50 breast PB of 26.56.
That shaved 0.07 seconds off his best, and sits just 0.02 seconds off Cameron van der Burgh‘s African and South African record of 26.54 from the 2017 World Championships. It would also move him up to rank 4th in the world this season.
Men’s 50 Breast African Rankings, All-Time Top Performances
- Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 26.54, 2017 World Championships (heats)
- Michael Houlie (RSA) – 26.56, 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 26.58, 2018 Commonwealth Games
- Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 26.60, 2017 World Championships (final)
- Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) – 26.62, 2015 World Championships
2025-2026 LCM Men 50 BREAST
MATHIAS
26.30
| 2 | Simone CERASUOLO | ITA | 26.51 | 04/18 |
| 3 | Ivan Kozhakin | RUS | 26.52 | 06/26 |
| 4 | Melvin IMOUDU | GER | 26.57 | 04/25 |
| 5 | Sam WILLIAMSON | AUS | 26.61 | 06/10 |
However, Houlie did not stop there in this race. Although he was clearly hurting, and was overtaken by Filip Nowacki in the final five meters, he clung on with a 33.58 second 50 to stop the clock in 1:00.14, half a second off his PB but nearly a second faster than his season best of 1:01.06 from the Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum tour.
That moves him through 4th into tonight’s semi-finals, where he will race next to Australia’s Sam Williamson (59.56). Adam Peaty claimed the top seed in 59.46, comfortably taking the final heat this morning, and Filip Nowacki was the final man under a minute with a time of 59.93.
He is one of three African swimmers to move through to the semi-finals. Chris Smith placed 8th in 1:00.86, while Botswana’s Adrian Robinson shaved 0.09 seconds off his national record for a 12th place finish in 1:01.65. Namibia’s Ronan Wantenaar, the #9 seed coming in, placed 17th in 1:02.70.
Houlie had not been too consistent at major meets in recent years, and placed 4th at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 50 breast in a time of 27.36. He was faster in the heats at 27.10, and moved through 1st into the semi-finals and 4th into the final before missing bronze by just 0.04 seconds.
His 50 breast time this morning was two tenths of a second faster than the 26.76 Adam Peaty posted to win the event four years ago, and is also faster than the winning time at every single Commonwealth Games in history. The Games record of 26.49 was set by Peaty in the semi-finals in 2018, before Cameron van der Burgh won the final in 26.58.
Houlie may well now be the favorite to win the 50 breast later this week, and will certainly be confident of standing on the podium for the first time at a Commonwealth Games since 2018, when he won bronze in the men’s 4×100 medley relay.
It seems unlikely that Houlie would continue with his extreme splitting in the later rounds of this event, but his races should certainly be interesting to watch after his success this morning. The finals session, which will feature the 100 breast semi-finals, starts at 7:00pm GMT/2:00pm ET this evening.
