Australian Eamon Sullivan broke the world record in the men's 50m freestyle at the New South Wales swimming championships in Sydney on Sunday.

 

Sullivan clocked 21.56 seconds to chop 0.08 seconds off Russian Alexander Popov's mark of 21.64 seconds set up in 2000.

 

His winning mark also bettered half a second off his personal best fro Sullivan, who finished third in the 100m and fifth in the 50m freestyle at last year's world championships in Melbourne.

 

"I just surprised myself," he said. "I felt really, really good in the warm-up and working towards getting under 22 for the first time."

 

The 22-year-old shook off a series of injuries before his breakthrough meet at the national championships 14 months ago where he captured the 50m national record in Brisbane.

 

It was the first swimming world record by an Australian men swimmer in an Olympic event since Ian Thorpe in the 400m freestyle at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

 

The 50m event was introduced into the Olympic program in Seoul in 1988.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2008)