What it takes to beat Roland Schoeman

Posted on November 18, 2009

In the 50m breaststroke Cameron van den Burgh showed just why he is the best in the world when he bettered his own world record of 25.43 with an astonishing 25.25 clocking. Schoeman was inches behind and also just missed out on the previous WR when he touched the wall in 25.45sec.

Schoeman’s best event is undoubtedly the 50m butterfly, having set two World Records this year in the event, but this time a third World Record was not enough as he was pipped by Germany’s Steffen Deibler who broke Schoemans WR with a time of 21.80sec to become the first swimmer under 22sec. Schoeman was just behind in 21.87sec, also well inside his previous mark of 22.08sec.

Having lost out so close on two occasions would seem to have been just the tonic Schoeman needed as he powered to a win in the 50m freestyle in a new WC record time of 20.57sec relegating Stefan Nystrand to second and gaining a measure of revenge over Deibler who finished 3rd. Schoeman’s 20.57sec in the 3rd best ever and a mere 2/10th off his own WR of 20.30sec.

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