Sajan Prakash breaks 200m freestyle national record at Sette Colli swimming
The Tokyo-bound Indian swimmer claimed his third national record in as many days at Rome.
A day after becoming the first Indian swimmer to achieve a direct Olympic qualification, Sajan Prakash set the new men’s 200m freestyle national record at the Sette Colli Trophy 2021 in Rome, Italy, on Sunday.
The 27-year-old clocked 1:49.73 seconds in the heats to better the previous best of 1:49.86 set by former Asian Games bronze medallist Vidharwal Khade in 2008.
This was Sajan Prakash’s third national record in Rome in as many days. He had reset the 100m backstroke record on Friday and followed it up with the new 200m butterfly national record on Saturday.
Sajan Prakash showed fine form as he finished comfortably ahead of Tomas Sungaila of Lithuania to win his heat. Sungaila was second with a timing of 1:50.25 seconds.
The performance saw Sajan Prakash claim the overall second spot behind Hungary’s Richard Marton, who won the time trial race clocking 1:49.70 seconds.
Tanish Mathew -- another Indian in the event -- finished an overall eighth with a timing of 1:51.17 seconds.
Sajan Prakash will be heading for his second Summer Games at Tokyo 2020 after confirming his participation by achieving the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) in the 200m butterfly event
Having sealed his place at Tokyo 2020 with a quality performance in the 200m butterfly on Saturday, the Indian will be hoping to improve on his performance at the Olympics from five years ago.
The Kerala swimmer had made it to the Rio Games in 2016 under the universality quota and finished 28th among the 29 competing swimmers. Though the Indian had set a then national record with his swim at Rio 2016, the timing was not enough to make it past the heats.
Kushagra Rawat sets personal best to win gold in USA
Meanwhile, Indian swimmer Kushagra Rawat won gold in the men’s 800m freestyle at the 2021 Dolfin Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions in California, USA. It was his second gold medal in the event, as he also won the 400m freestyle.
Rawat won it with a personal best 8:01.31 seconds, but it was some way short of the Olympic Qualifying Time of 7:54.31 seconds.
Fellow Indian swimmer Advait Page - the new national record holder in the 1500m freestyle - won bronze in the 800m freestyle event while teenager Aryan Nehra clocked a personal best 8:12.51 seconds to finish fourth.