Nick Thoman Takes Down Pan Ams 100m Back Record

American Nick Thoman raced his way to a gold medal in the men’s 100m backstroke tonight at the 2015 Pan American Games and did so in Games record time.  Thoman stormed off the blocks in a swift 25.68 and brought it home in 27.52 to give the Olympic silver medalist the 5th-fastest time in the world – 53.20.  The previous record was held by USA’s Randall Bal, who registered a 53.66 from the 2007 edition of the Games.

Thoman indeed held a little back this morning, clocking a 54.35 in his prelims swim to claim the number one seed, but still give the hint he had more to unleash in the evening.  Thoman’s fastest time of 2015 headed into this meet was the 55.01 from the Arizona Southwest Classic last June, so the 29-year old is swimming the fastest he has in quite a while.

The Cincinnati native had been swimming with SwimMAC Elite in Charlotte, NC up until February 2015, when Thoman decided to make the move west and join the Tucson Ford Aquatics crew led by Coach Stafford.