2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
18-year-old Denys Kesyl became the first Ukrainian man under the 1:55 threshold in the men’s 200 fly, producing a National Record of 1:54.79 in the World Championship final.
His time takes down the 17-year-old record previously held by Olympic silver medalist Denys Sylantyev, who went 1:55.42 at the 2002 European Championships to win the silver.
Sylantyev placed second to Tom Malchow at the 2000 Games in Sydney, and was also the 1998 World Champion in this event.
Kesyl had qualified third out of the prelims in a personal best time of 1:55.82 and then qualified for the final with the seventh-fastest time (1:55.95) in the semis. He ended up placing fifth in the final.
Coming into the competition, the Kryvyi Rih native held a lifetime best of 1:55.89, set at the Youth Olympic Games last October where he won silver behind Hungarian Kristof Milak.
Milak won tonight’s final with the fastest swim in history, breaking Michael Phelps‘ 2009 world record of 1:51.51 in an incredible 1:50.73.
The bronze medalist from Buenos Aires, Federico Burdisso, also had a strong showing here placing fourth in a Italian Record of 1:54.39. The defending champion Chad Le Clos won bronze in 1:54.15.