Teen obliterates men's world record in 1,500m freestyle first

BREAKING: German teenager Johannes Liebmann smashes the men's 1,500m freestyle world record, clocking 14:26.79 to become the first man under 14:30.

A nineteen year old just swam the fifteen hundred faster than any man in history.

Johannes Liebmann of Germany, at the European Championships in France, fourteen minutes 26.79 seconds. That's not nudging a record, that's tearing it up. He took nearly four seconds off the mark Bobby Finke set winning gold in Paris, and he's the first human ever under fourteen thirty for the distance. There he is, and remember the face, because you'll be seeing it for a decade.

His own review of the race is my favourite bit. He said he started fast just to get rid of the others, then saw the crowd standing and found another gear. Afterwards he admitted he didn't think the time was possible for him. Neither did anyone else, mate.

This is an event Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins once owned, and a teenager just moved the ceiling on it by four seconds. The scary part is he's nineteen. The record book has a new landlord.

This is Dave King, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at abc.net.au