FLASH! Cam McEvoy Rockets To 50 Free World Record In 20.88
Cam McEvoy redefined the 50 free world record as he rocketed to a time of 20.88 second to consign Cesar Cielo’s 2009 standard to history at the China Open Friday.
Cielo’s mark of 20.91 had stood since December 2009 as the shiny suit era staggered towards its end. The Brazilian had surpassed Fred Bousquet’s 20.94 mark from April 2009, the pair the only two men to break 21 seconds.
That was until McEvoy went 0.03 inside Cielo’s mark, with the Australian now holding the world record on top of the Olympic and world crowns, with his wife Madeline and son Hartley present in Shenzhen to witness the 31-year-old make history.
Caeleb Dressel had been the fastest man in textile, posting times of 21.04 in 2019 and 2021, with the American third fastest in history. He was 0.02 ahead of McEvoy, who posted 21.06 en-route to the world title at Fukuoka 2023.
Now McEvoy stands at the summit, 16 years and three months after Cielo set that world record with the Brazilian quick to offer his congratulations, replying to World Aquatics’ Instagram post: “The sprint king!!! Congrats, Cam!!! 👑⚡️🏊🏻♂️”
Cielo also posted a personal message, saying: “Congrats, Cam! Lightning fast swim! Incredible! 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!” 
World Aquatics posted to Instagram, saying: “What just happened?! 🤯
“Cameron McEvoy has beaten Cesar Cielo’s longstanding 50m Freestyle World Record: the new mark is 20.88! 🇦🇺”
Adam Peaty – himself a double world record holder – Ariarne Titmus, Bruno Fratus and James Guy were among those to offer their congratulations on top of Cielo’s sprint king message.
All-Time Performers
1] 20.88: Cam McEvoy, China Open, march 2026
2] 20.91: Cesar Cielo, Brazilian Championships, December 2009
3] 20.94: Fred Bousquet, French Championships, April 2009
4] 21.04: Caeleb Dressel, World Championships, July 2019
4] 21.04: Caeleb Dressel, US Olympic Team Trials, June 2021
6] 21.11: Ben Proud, European Championships, August 2018