Mike Ross Smashes Masters World Record for 50m Backstroke -- November 8, 2004

By Ed Gendreau

PORTSMOUTH, NH, November 7. MIKE Ross, New England Masters Swim Club, lowered the 50 meter backstroke world record for men 35-39 by over half a second at a meet hosted by Great Bay Masters Swimming today.

Mike’s time of 26.31 lowered Clay Britt’s 26.84 standard by over half a second. Set in March 1996, Britt’s swim had withstood the test of time.

Eight days earlier at the George Erswell Memorial Swim Meet at Bowdoin College in Brunswick Maine, Mike set a new USMS mark in the 100 yard backstroke at 50.58. Mike’s swim there took about a third of a second off Eric Ericson’s 50.93, set in 2000.