Updated list of swimming world records that are a complete joke
The record books in swimming have turned into a farce at the Rome world championships with the decision to delay the outlawing of wetsuits until next January. From 22 events, there have been 18 world records broken, mostly by swimmers wearing the double-layered suits, with second-raters leaving the likes of eight-time Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps in their technology-assisted wake.
There are a further 18 swimming finals to be swum, with further records expected to be broken at the same clip. At this rate, 80 per cent of the records in world swimming are going to have asterisks next to them. Shame must be attributed to FINA, the world swimming body.
Men
| 100 m freestyle | Cesar Cielo Filho | BRA | 46.91 |
| 200 m freestyle | Paul Biedermann | GER | 1:42.00 |
| 400 m freestyle | Paul Biedermann | GER | 3:40.07 |
| 800 m freestyle | Zhang Lin | CHN | 7:32.12 |
| 100 m backstroke | No WR in Rome | ||
| 50 m breaststroke | Cameron van der Burgh | SAF | 26.67 |
| 100 m breaststroke | Brenton Rickard | AUS | 58.58 |
| 50 m butterfly | No WR in Rome | ||
| 200 m butterfly | Michael Phelps | USA | 1:51.51 |
| 200 m individual medley | Ryan Lochte | USA | 1:54.10 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay | No WR in Rome | ||
Women
| 200 m freestyle | Federica Pellegrini | ITA | 1:52.98 |
| 400 m freestyle | Federica Pellegrini | ITA | 3:59.15 |
| 1500 m freestyle | No WR in Rome | ||
| 50 m backstroke | Zhao Jing | CHN | 27.06 |
| 100 m backstroke | Gemma Spofforth | GBR | 58.12 |
| 100 m breaststroke | Rebecca Soni | USA | 1:04.84 |
| 100 m butterfly | Sarah Sjöström | SWE | 56.06 |
| 200 m butterfly | Jessica Schipper | AUS | 2:03.41 |
| 200 m individual medley | Ariana Kukors | USA | 2:06.15 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay | Netherlands * | NED | 3:31.72 |
| 4×200 m freestyle relay | China ** | CHN | 7:42.08 |
* Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Frederike Heemskerk, Magdalena Veldhuis
** Yang Yu, Zhu Qianwei, Liu Jing, Pang Jiaying
