15-year old Chinese swimmer Li Zhuhao has broken the World Junior Record in the men’s 100 fly on Wednesday at the 2014 Asian Games.
Li swam a 51.91 to take 2nd behind Singapore’s Joseph Schooling (51.76) in the final, which broke the “standard mark” of 52.52 that was done by New Zealand’s Daniel Bell at the 2008 Junior World Championships.
That’s still slower than Michael Phelps was as a junior (51.15), though that was in 2003, long before FINA started recognizing Junior World Records. This swim is, however, much faster than Phelps was at 15 – his best was 53.58 at that age, with a 52.98 coming at 16 and a 51.84 at 17.
The swim by Li is also a full second better than the 52.94 that Li swam to with Youth Olympic gold a month ago in Nanjing.
Let’s see if Michael Andrew can top that before his16th birthday! Should provide him with a good incentive.
51.9 is incredible for 15..
I’m a little confused by the Michael Phelps time/year in there. Do you mean 2003?
Matt Connery – you’re correct, we do mean 2003.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D18_CaLKWCs
51.91 at 15? 😯