Pieter Coetze sets 50m backstroke world record in Tashkent

South African swimmer Pieter Coetze set a new world record in the men's 50m backstroke during the short course World Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Coetze clocked a time of 22.09 seconds, breaking the previous record of 22.11 seconds held by Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov since 2022.

Coetze's performance showed significant improvement, shaving more than four-tenths of a second off his personal best. He secured first place ahead of Egor Kornev of Russia, who finished in 22.29 seconds. In the men's 100m freestyle, Kornev and Australia's Cameron McEvoy tied for first place with a time of 45.24 seconds.

Other notable results from the second day of competition include Yu Yiting of China winning the women's 400m medley, Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong winning the women's 200m freestyle, and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands winning the women's 100m backstroke.