‘Insane’: McEvoy breaks 50m world record in stunning swim

Australian sprint sensation Cam McEvoy has capped a remarkable resurgence by breaking the men’s 50m freestyle world record, sending a formidable warning to his rivals two years out from the Los Angeles Olympics.

The reigning Olympic world champion blew the field away at the China Swimming Open in Shenzhen, touching the wall in 20.88 seconds – 0.03 seconds inside Brazilian César Cielo’s mark set in 2009.

The USA’s Jack Alexy was next fastest in 21.57, while Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, more of a 100m freestyle specialist, finished third in 22.01.

What is significant about the record is that Cielo’s mark was set in the now-banned polyurethane “supersuits”, making McEvoy’s time the fastest in textile swimwear. Cielo’s mark had long been regarded as one of swimming’s most untouchable world records before McEvoy exploded off the blocks with a reaction time of 0.53 seconds and won by a body length.

McEvoy’s previous personal best was 21.06, swum at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, where he claimed gold. The fastest time in the event outside the supersuit era had been American Caeleb Dressel’s 21.04, set at the 2019 world championships.

“20.88 is unreal. It’s crazy,” McEvoy said.

“[I am] ecstatic. I had that target for a very long time. I had an insane season of training after world champs last year. I was doing some pretty special stuff coming into training. I knew I had a chance to maybe do a PB [personal best] or go 20.99. I couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s incredible.”

McEvoy is now the only Australian male swimmer to hold an individual long-course world record. Ariarne Titmus (200m freestyle) and Kaylee McKeown (50m and 200m backstroke) are the only Australian women with individual marks.

Australia’s Eamon Sullivan broke the 50m freestyle world record twice in two days in 2008, clocking 21.41 and 21.28, before France’s Frédérick Bousquet lowered it to 20.94 the following year.

After the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, McEvoy stepped away from the sport before returning in late 2022 with a radically overhauled training program under coach Tim Lane.

Armed with a background in mathematics and physics, McEvoy shifted his approach to prioritise specificity, focusing on fewer laps in the pool and more emphasis on strength and power.

The results have been emphatic: world titles in 2023 and 2025, and Olympic gold in Paris, where he held off Great Britain’s Ben Proud and France’s Florent Manaudou in a time of 21.25. It was Australia’s first men’s medal in the one lap dash in Olympic history.

Kyle Chalmers labelled McEvoy’s world record “insane” on social media, while fellow Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan posted: “So proud of you. Huge congratulations!”

Even the greatest swimmer in history, Michael Phelps, congratulated McEvoy on social media, accompanied by two clapping emojis.

Cielo was quick to laud McEvoy’s performance on X.

“Congrats, Cam! Lightning fast swim! Incredible!” Cielo wrote.

“I saw a phrase a while ago that perfectly captures what you’ve been doing. You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Congratulations!”

McEvoy will compete at the Australian trials in Sydney in early June ahead of the Commonwealth Games later this year.

At the previous Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, he was absent from the Australian team, opting instead to focus on rock climbing and building strength in the gym.

He has since flagged ambitions to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and a home Games in Brisbane in 2032 as a 38-year-old.