The 22-year-old South African swimmer Peter Kotze set a world record in men's 50-meter backstroke, winning the gold medal during the second stage of the World Aquatics World Cup held in Tashkent on Friday.
Kotze covered the distance in an impressive 22.09 seconds, improving the previous world record set by Kliment Kolesnikov in 2022 by 0.02 seconds. During the race, when he was in second place at the 25-meter mark, Kotze demonstrated a dominant finishing acceleration, overtaking the series leader Egor Kornev (22.29) in a tense finish battle. Pavel Samusenko took third place with a time of 22.35.
World Swimming Cup
After the race, Kotze admitted that realizing the magnitude of his achievement took some time. He noted that the competition was very strong, as it included athletes such as world record holder Isaac Cooper. He added that he did not initially consider himself a favorite and did not immediately realize it was a world record even after seeing the time on the board.
Despite setting a new world record, Kotze emphasized that his approach to competition remains unchanged. He stated that there is always a lot of competition at such a high level, and one cannot relax, so he will continue to act as before.
This historic swim marked a half-second decrease compared to Kotze's continental record, which he set just six days earlier in Baku, Azerbaijan. There, he led the South African team campaign, winning four medals: gold in the 100-meter backstroke with a time beating the African record (49.11), and gold in the 200-meter backstroke (1:49.64); silver in the 50-meter backstroke; and bronze in the 100-meter individual medley (51.60).
Kotze's momentum is supported by the strong South African short-distance squad, which uses this tournament as preparation for the upcoming Short Course World Championships. Other medalists from Baku, Michael Holly (silver in 50-meter breaststroke) and Aimie Kenny (bronze in 100-meter breaststroke), as well as finalists like Matthew Coldwell and Guy Brooks, use these high-intensity competitions to hone their skills against elite rivals.
Kotze has not yet completed his program in Uzbekistan. On Saturday, he will compete in the semi-finals and finals of the men's 100-meter backstroke, where he aims to replicate his recent African record of 49.11 and target the world record of 48.16. Thanks to this historic 50-meter backstroke victory, Kotze has firmly established himself as one of the main contenders for the World Cup title within the three-week Asian tour, which concludes next week in Astana, Kazakhstan.