Swiss swimmer Noe Ponti breaks 50m butterfly short course World Record in Shanghai

Noe Ponti first showed his form racing in the short course 25m pool on Friday, setting a European Record in the 100m butterfly and a Swiss national record in the 100m Medley, followed by another national record in the 200m Medley on Saturday.

Sunday was one to remember for the 23-year-old Ticino native as he set the 50m butterfly World Record of 21.67 in the morning heats, improving on the record previously held by Nicholas Santos of Brazil and Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary by 0.08. Ponti nearly eclipsed his record in the Sunday evening finals, going 21.68 now to hold the two fastest event times in history.

“What can I say? World Record 50 fly in the morning, the first competition of the season.  I didn’t expect it, and I couldn’t be happier. After seeing how fast I swam the 100 fly and the 100 IM, I knew I could get very close to the World Record—but breaking it?  You never know.  I am happy I did it this morning, so I don’t have to think about it again.”

Ponti’s previous best in the short course 50m butterfly, 21.79, came at the 2023 European Swimming Championships (25m) last December in Romania, where he was 0.04 off the previous World Record.  

Contributing: Gregory Eggert