55.14 seconds: Van Mathias just broke a world record that stood for five years

Van Mathias had already had a good morning. In Thursday's preliminaries at the USA Swimming Short Course World Championship Trials in Westmont, Illinois, the Indiana University alumnus set American records in the 100-metre breaststroke. By Thursday night he had the world record: 55.14 seconds, shaving 0.14 off the mark Ilya Shymanovich set in 2021. It is Mathias's first individual world record — he helped the United States set the medley relay world standard this summer — and it earns him a place at December's World Championships in Beijing.