After taking a long break ater the Sydney Olympics and returning to competition in January. Olympic bronze medallist Roman Sludnov became the first swimmer in history to go under 1 minute for the mens 100m breaststroke.

Having set a world record time of the 1:00.26 in a semifinal yesterday at the Russian National Championships and World Trials, he smashed that time in the final with a time of 59.97.

His time betters the world record of 1:00.29 held by Ed Moses of the US. Moses set the record at the US Nationals in March.

Sludnov will be competing in the 50 and 100m breaststroke events at the upcoming World Championships in Fuluoka, Japan.