PHOENIX, Arizona, July 31. FROM time-to-time, Swimming World will crack open our half-a-century deep archives and give our readers a freebie when the time calls for it.
China's Sun Yang took down Grant Hackett's 10-year-old world record in the men's 1500 free last night, and this is just such a time to provide some original historic context to just how epic that moment turned out to be.
Hackett's astonishing world record of 14:34.56 from the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka wasn't just epic because of how long it stood. It also proved to be iconic because of just how much of a progression his effort proved to be in the growth of the men's 1500 free.
Hackett cut more than seven seconds from Kieren Perkins' previous world record of 14:41.66 – a progression unheard of even in the techsuit era.
Here is the full recap of the 2001 World Championships, provided free of charge to our readers:
Swimming World's 2001 World Championship Recap
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