Just over 12 hours after having to settle for silver in the 100-metre breaststroke, Cameron van der Burgh blasted to a world record in the 50m breaststroke heats at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia on Tuesday. 

The 27-year-old South African had been beaten to gold in the 100m by British sensation Adam Peaty on Monday evening but, starting in lane four, he burst off the blocks in the seventh of nine heats to touch the wall 26.62sec later. Second was Serbia’s Caba Siladi in 27.19 and Lithunia’s Giderius Titenis (27.51). That’s 0.05sec inside his own world best, set in Rome six years ago.

Van der Burgh then had to wait until two heats later to see if Peaty would overtake his mark. But 20-year-old Peaty, although quick, wasn’t that quick, as he touched in 26.68, 0.01sec outside the old mark.

The 50m breaststroke semi-finals are scheduled to be the third event of the evening session on Tuesday.