50 m breaststroke, women, 25 m pool

What to remember

A semi-final was enough: on December 17, 2022, at the short course World Championships in Melbourne, Lithuania's Rūta Meilutytė swam the 50 m breaststroke in 28.37 s. The race was swum in a 25-metre pool, the short course format.

Born in 1997, Meilutytė is a breaststroke specialist. She trained in Britain, at Plymouth College and the associated Plymouth Leander Swimming Club, under a coaching team led by Jon Rudd. At the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Trabzon, she won the 100 m breaststroke along with a silver in the 50 m freestyle and a bronze in the 100 m freestyle. In 2012 she became Olympic champion in the 100 m breaststroke, and she is a former world record holder in that event in long course.

The 50 m breaststroke is younger than the longer distances. Men and women first swam it at the short course worlds in 1999, then at the long course worlds in 2001. Meilutytė holds the short course record, alongside Turkey's Emre Sakçı for the men, and the long course 50 m record as well.