Chinese swimmer breaks Grant Hackett’s longest standing 1,500 meters freestyle record

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Canberra, Aug 1: Chinese swimmer Sun Yang has broken the decade old 1500-metres freestyle mark set by Australian great Grant Hackett.

Hackett’s time of 14.34.56 set at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, was the longest standing and among the most admired world records on the swimming books.

Many swimmers across the world, including Hackett himself, could not crack the record.

But this time, Yang scorched through the final 100 metres to touch the wall in a 14.34.14, nearly ten seconds ahead of Canada’s Ryan Cochrane in second place, the Age reports.

Yang, who was trained by Hackett’s former coach Denis Cotterell, said he was ‘very, very happy’ with breaking the landmark record.

“‘I was not obsessed with the world record before the final, because I wanted to focus on my plan,”

“My goal is to win the gold. I’m so grateful to the whole Chinese team, including my coach and my parents as well, and I think the world record belongs to all of them,” he added. (ANI)